Here is everything you need to know about the Franklin Central Band program right now.

Did you miss the last band parent meeting? No worries, we recorded it for you.

We would like all band and guard parents to join our monthly band parent meeting via zoom for the latest news, updates, and an opportunity to ask questions. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 22nd at 7:30PM. The link to join the meeting will be posted on the parent Facebook groups and also sent via email.

Here is everything you need to know for upcoming practices and band camp.

Supplies

Drum Majors prepare us for band practices:

Students need to bring the following supplies to each practice:

Practice/Band Camp Schedule

Due to new guidelines, the practice schedule has been updated.

You can find the most up to date information by clicking Band Calendar on the home page at fcbands.org. This calendar is updated immediately when a change is made.

View the band calendar and updated practice times HERE.

Practice & Drop Off & Pick Up Location (this week only)

Marching Band practice starts Monday, July 13th for percussion and winds, and continues for color guard. Drop off and pick up locations: Percussion: West and/or South practice lots; Brass: Football Stadium; Woodwinds: South practice lot; Color Guard: East Stadium - The football practice field/grass lot behind the school. Exception: Friday Color Guard will be at the main stadium. All students should report directly to these locations with their equipment and supplies. Students needing instruments from the band room need to go to DOOR 3W. The door will be locked, please wait to be allowed entrance by staff. Students must wear a mask to enter the building. Someone will be at door 3W to answer questions if parents or students need help.

Closed Practices

For the time being, parents are only allowed on campus to drop off and pick up students. Please stay in your car. Parents are not allowed to enter the school building or attend practices. School policy will be updated in mid August depending on conditions. The school is allowing a nurse and the marching band liaison, Travis Sears, to be on campus during practices. If you are a medical professional, please let us know if you would be interested in helping. Please contact marchingbandliaison@fcbands.org.

Healthcare Screening Form

All students must complete the online health screening form immediately before arriving to school. All forms are time stamped. For the safety of everyone, please be sure your child is answering each question carefully and honestly. The forms must be completed before each and every practice. The student can find the form on Canvas. Important: If your child answers yes to any of the questions, he/she must stay home. (This applies to any new symptom that cannot be attributed to an ongoing medical condition, such as allergies.)

1. Do you have a fever?

2. Do you have a sore throat?

3. Do you have a cough?

4. Are you experiencing a loss of smell or taste?

5. Are you experiencing shortness of breath?

6. Have you had close contact to a positive Covid patient?

Band Camp - Meals (July 20th-24th)

Each student will need to bring a packed lunch and an afternoon snack daily.

Band Camp - Theme Days (July 20th-24th)

Monday - Show Shirt Day

Tuesday - Superhero Day

Wednesday - Hawaiian Day

Thursday - America Day

Friday - Section Color Day

Social Distancing Guidelines/Safety Precautions

In order to ensure a safe environment for students, staff, and volunteers, we will be following appropriate social distancing guidelines and safety precautions for upcoming practices and band camp.

This past week we have received some great questions. Here are the answers from Mr. Ellinger:

1) How are they playing instruments when they must wear masks?

All Franklin Township activities (sports, band, choir, orchestra, etc.) are adhering to IHSAA(Indiana's Athletic Association) COVID policies. We will be maintaining social distancing when outside while also encouraging all students to wear masks. Just before they begin playing their instrument, students will be able to slide their mask down to play, and then move them back up when we are finished playing. We will discuss this at length at our first practice to make sure all students understand these safety protocols. Sections will also have designated locations during breaks to make sure the band never congregates in one area.

2) What are they doing about competitions & performances?

ISSMA(Indiana's Music Association) sent out an initial round of policies earlier in the summer detailing the specific changes we need to make to our shows (shortened performance times, social distancing policies, etc.). Now that we are closing in on the start of school, they will be sending out a second round of policies explaining specific details for competitions. While we do not have these policies yet, I fully anticipate reduced or eliminated audience sizes, virtual award ceremonies, and bands needing to leave the competition site immediately after performance. Once we have this information, Mr. Cooper and myself will adhere to these policies and add what we believe is in the best interest of our students!

For performances (ie- football games), we are waiting to hear from our Athletic Director regarding the policies we will need to address. He is working with the other schools in our conference to ensure similar policies are being upheld from school to school. Regardless, we will maintain social distancing at these performances.

3) How are they maintaining the 6ft distancing?

This is one aspect of marching band that is deeply rooted in tradition, is easy to learn, and immediately enforceable! When learning how we march, we have always had students stand on yard lines or directly between yard lines. This helps them gauge their step sizes in order to memorize how we move on the field. This actually puts all students at a 7.5 foot distance from each other. During our music practices, we will also be keeping students at a 6ft distance at all times. While our staff has moved inside this "block" of students in the past, we will keep them outside of this block to ensure safe distancing. During our show, we will make sure students are not integrating as much as in prior years (for example, clarinets mixing with trumpets during the show).

Due to the current restrictions, the Marching Band parent preview that was scheduled for Friday, July 24th has been cancelled.

The 2nd Marching Band payment of $200 was due on Wednesday, July 1st. If you have not made that payment please do so now. The 3rd payment of $200 is due on August 1st.

If you have questions about your payment or need to make payment arrangements, please contact Becky Richardson at treasurer@fcbands.org.

Franklin Central has an amazing band program that offers both music and life skills with the opportunity to perform in a large variety of settings. Share what our program has to offer with family and friends on social media now! This is an outstanding presentation!

The Franklin Central Band Boosters has been monitoring updates as it relates to Covid-19 very closely. Our primary objective is to keep the students, staff, volunteers, and community safe while moving forward with the band program and activities as much as possible. As we reviewed the most recent announcements from the Mayor, we determined that hosting an event of this size could pose a safety risk for those involved. Therefore, we are canceling the Community Day Fundraiser for July 25th. This was a difficult decision to make. Fundraising is going to look very different as we move forward in the season. We will be relying on online opportunities and a collaborative push from parents, students, and the community to meet the fundraising goals for this year. Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to your support as we move forward with new goals to meet program objectives.

Hello FC Band and Color Guard Families!

We need your help. Our Community Day may have been canceled but the 50/50 raffle ticket drawing is still happening on July 25th! The more raffle tickets sold the more funds we will have for the band and color guard programs and for the owner of the one lucky winning ticket!

Please review the “raffle ticket manual” link, accessible via the Weekly Cadence and on our band website at fcbands.org. The document should have all of your answers regarding the ‘What’ ‘Why’, ’How’, and ‘When’ questions you may have about the raffle ticket sales.

We have provided a lot of specific, detailed information in the link so that all parents will be brought up to speed on the importance of the raffle ticket sales and on the process.

If after reading the short raffle ticket ‘manual’ you still have a question, please send your emails to ask@fcbands.org. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Five raffle tickets will be sent home with your student during the first week of summer band practice. One or two additional tickets may be sent home with your student during the second week of summer band practice (band camp) if there are remaining tickets yet to sell.

Please ask your student about the tickets and encourage them to sell those first 5 tickets. If every one of our 149 students sells at least five raffle tickets, we will have sold 745 tickets. The band, color guard program and the winning ticket holder would be very happy.

If we are able to sell all 1000 tickets, which is very doable, then we will really be in good shape!

Suggestions for students on how to sell the tickets to neighbors are even included in the linked document! Please take the time with your student to review the link. Parents, if you are able to sell raffle tickets at your work, please do so.

Thank you for supporting the students and the FC Band and Color Guard programs!

We are now accepting vendor applications for our 2nd Annual 2020 Holiday Craft Fair. The deadline for submission is July 31, 2020. Please read the vendor guidelines carefully. We will be following CDC recommendations closely to ensure a safe and pleasant fair for everyone.

We will be kicking off the annual mum fundraiser on July 27th. This is an excellent opportunity to fund your band account. It was very successful last year and the flowers are affordable and of excellent quality. You will be receiving more information soon on how you can take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.

• Marching Band Practice - Monday, July 13 - Friday, July 17 - Click Here For Times
• Zoom Parent Meeting - Wednesday, July 22nd @ 7:30pm
• BAND CAMP - Monday, July 20 - Friday, July 24 @ 9am - 8pm
• Marching Band Practice - Monday, July 27 - Wednesday, July 29 - Click Here For Times
• First Day of School - Monday, August 3
• Visit the Band Calendar for more events

Email: Travis Sears, Marching Band Liaison at marchingbandliaison@fcbands.org or email ask@fcbands.org

Email: Valarie Solomon, Engagement Coordinator at Engagement@fcbands.org