3 May 2020 Dear Parents and Students, I hope that this email finds you and your family well. The last few weeks have been nothing short of devastating for all and for so many of my students and their families on so many levels.. Please know that you and especially your children have been in my thoughts on a daily basis. I can’t tell you how of a void there is that I am not making live Music with students be it in a class, lesson or concerts. Band has always been a family and we have worked through so many things the last few years to pull off emotionally and energetically charged performances that have been so personal to all of us and hopefully to you too. More than anything it is the laughs we have together that I truly miss more than anything. Please know that even though a building might be closed, I have ideas and plans to give our seniors that last moment of musical expression and being together as a family.
Weeks ago as districts and states began closing, I had a very last minute conversation with our travel agent and with the support of Mr. Owenburg and Mr. DeTommaso, we were able to quickly push the trip back a month and reschedule the trip to the end of May. (The other programs from Calhoun then followed suit) Hoping against all odds, it is now inevitable that 2020 trip to Washington DC will not be taking place this year. While I know all of us were looking forward to a great weekend making memories, music and being with each other there is just no way to make it happen. I truly appreciate all of your patience in not reaching out about the status of the trip until I was ready to make an announcement - it made it much easier on my part. Thank you!
To my students”kids”…Stop and Read This before we go on.
I’m sorry for those of you if this was going to be your first overnight band trip. It would have been special. If you were going for your second year in a row you know how special these trips are. For my seniors, I am especially sorry we couldn’t pull this off for you. Another thing cancelled is certainly something you don’t deserve. As Mr. Owenburg put it, a sad day for sure. I have told you many times be it when choosing a college or making an important decision the person you are will always create the experience you want for yourself no matter where you go not an event or place. It is you. Yes this hurts, but you will be okay. You will push through and you will come out on top. It’s a bummer. It flat out sucks. But the trip was just a small part of the journey you all started with me 2-3-4 years ago. All journeys have twists and turns. We don’t always see where we will go because of the fog- but that’s okay. The fog will always lift- the sun always comes after the darkest moments of the night, and know that you too will come away from this and ALL of this stronger. We all became better because of each other. You met challenges head on, you rose to the occasion so many times, you inspired me to be a better teacher and to be a better person- NO ONE, NO THING can ever take that away from you. So while things are fluid about your end of the year- keep your head high- as I have told you for EVERY slap in the face there is a chance to look in the NEW direction! Take that into the world and make it better. Seniors the mark you have left on me is “Never Forgotten”
To Parents/Students:
Please know I have been speaking constantly with our Tour Agent, and she been working to contact all the vendors associated with the trip to determine and calculate what fees can be recovered.
Let me say 3 things: First, this will unfortunately be a very involved and time consuming process. There are some vendors with whom she has been having trouble even contacting right now, and understandably so… We are asking for your patience; the return of money is going to take weeks, as they are working with multiple vendors who need to first return funds to them. School offices are not open daily and by the time the travel agent gets in contact with vendors, they send the money back to the travel agent and then we get a check it is going to be awhile. Then we need office staff to do the actual deposit. Then, I have to go about the process of generating reimbursements which takes a long time to calculate and get all things in order- signed dated, and that’s if everything is flawless.
Second: I have been working with this particular Tour Agent for 9 years. As she is a Bellmore-Merrick community member, a parent of JFK Alumni, and a JFK alumnus herself; not only has she always been able to give our students exceptional trips beyond the norm she has, many times, given extra opportunities to our students, at no extra charge. I have no doubt in my mind that she will work tirelessly to recover the absolute maximum for each student. Please refrain from reaching out to their office directly- I will be in touch as soon as I have any updates.
Third: (This only corresponds to the JFK Band trip and no other overnight trip taking place in the district or our building) The “good” news is that the last payments you handed in - your final payments - were not turned in and will be shredded.(My brother was getting married the day before we closed so I was away and the deposits would have gone to the office when I returned). We also anticipate a good portion if not all of your second payment will be able to be recouped. We are working on the rest, but this is the best news I’ve heard compared to what I have a seen go on all over the country with student travel. We just won’t know the full amounts until the vendors start to open up in a few weeks. For now, know the last check you made out to JFK Band will not be cashed and will be shredded.
I thank you so much for your patience. I promise to be in touch as soon as I can. If you are receiving this e-mail and you’d rather it go to a different email or add an additional parent/guardian please let me know (I only used Contact 1 in Infinite Campus unless otherwise noted). Kids, if your parents didn’t get this e-mail I need to know so I can add them. Most of my communication will be 1 on 1 with them.
Again, I’m sorry I didn’t want to write this e-mail and I never thought I would have to in my teaching career. But, through all of these challenges I have always looked for something to look forward to. The other day I watched the winter concert and it brought nothing but a smile to my face and continued motivation to look forward to seeing all of you again. This past Friday was something I think we ALL needed. - seeing the seniors and celebrating their college decisions. We will travel again and while our journey together is a little different for the time being, it is not the end. The best thing about being a band director is the lifetime relationships that have can bevformed. I can’t tell you how many alumni I have spoken to in the last couple of weeks - many of them wanting to check in on this current band class. All of you are wonderful and as I have been saying lately- loved.
Please know that You and your families are all in my prayers. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Please be safe!