Winter Color Guard

Is A School Activity

To the Editor:

As a band, and more specifically, color guard parent, I feel it is important to address a few of the points made in a recent article about the guard in The Bee.

The Winter Color Guard program was formed ten years ago as an adjunct to the Marching Band program. It offers the students the opportunity to hone their skills during “off season,” and to compete head-to-head with other guard units from all over New England, New York, and New Jersey. It also offers Marching Band musicians the opportunity to try something different during their off-season.

The main reason that the Band Parents organization funds this program, and not the school district, is budget cuts. There simply are not enough funds to go around for all of the activities students want to participate in. This is the crux of the recent debate over the new $40 participation fees. Using that logic to call the Winter Guard “not a school activity” simply does not make sense. If it were not for the school, and the Marching Band program, then the Winter Guard would not exist at all. We pay for some of the fall instructional staff, and fund all of the uniform expenses, but no one would suggest that this makes the Marching Band not a school activity.

For the past several years, the guard has had access to various gymnasiums in town for practice session, and they have always had such access at least four nights per week, and time on Saturdays to practice before leaving for a competition. This is nothing new. To say that the need for space was “introduced for the first time” in November is simply because we didn’t know until late October that getting our usual gym space was going to be a problem. We foolishly presumed that the addition of Reed Intermediate, and its new gym and cafetorium space would make it easier to gain access, not harder. Imagine our surprise.

Also, we hear, the Parks and Rec Department has expanded the range of age groups they offer activities to, thus expanding their “demand” for space. It should be noted that the Winter Guard involves around 40 to 50 students, in two or three “units.” We have the Senior Varsity Guard, Junior Varsity Guard and when there is enough demand, we have also operated a Cadet Guard of mainly middle school students. Some of our graduating seniors this year have been involved in the guard for seven and eight years.

The guard doesn’t necessarily need a gymnasium for practice, they need a large space with high ceilings so they can practice their flag and saber tosses without hitting anything. Competitions are held in school gymnasiums to allow for spectator seating, but a space such as the Reed cafetorium is very suitable for practice sessions, and we question what other possible use the Parks and Rec could have for such a space? We have even offered to cleanup and maintain the abandoned gym at Fairfield Hills, providing our own heat and sanitation as needed, but we have been told that the state won’t allow it.

We are not asking for money, nor are we are asking for any additional, or excessive amount of school space. We just feel the guard is entitled to be seen for the school-related activity that it obviously is, and to be allowed to continue to have access to at least the same level of facility usage that they have had in the past.

John Krause

Vice President,

NHS Band Parents Corp

5A High Bridge Road, Sandy Hook                     November 17, 2003