New Parents
What to Expect
If you're a new parent coming into the Blue Springs Department of Bands, your student is beginning an exciting journey full of musical performances, experiences, and hopefully a passionate interest in music and the performing arts.
As a new parent, the first year in the program can often be the most difficult. No matter how hard the band staff and other booster parents work to try to create a positive experience for you in helping answer questions or to provide you with information and communication, there will likely be a feeling of uncertainty until you go through the first season. This is normal.
Many past parents have commented that for the Golden Regiment Marching Band they didn't really start to understand what the season was about and the work that their students were putting in until they attended the Golden Regiment Invitational Marching Festival and saw the captivating performance in front of a crowd.
With that, here are some tips for how to become engaged and to improve your experience with the program:
8th Grade Parent Meeting
This meeting will occur in March. If you're a parent of an 8th grade student, please watch out for the updates on this meeting and make a plan to attend. You will get your first look at what being in the marching band is about. You'll hear from other students and parents about what the program has meant for them. And you'll have the opportunity to visit with other parents that have been in your same spot. These connections will be helpful in your future experience.
Parent Meeting & Volunteer Fair
This meeting will occur in May. Please consider attending the Volunteer Fair prior to the parent meeting. You'll meet other parents that have gone through the first time experience and learn about the many opportunities that are available to get involved in supporting the program. During the parent meeting, you'll learn more about the planned travel, the costs for participation, and other pertinent season details. Do not miss this meeting!
Fireworks Super Store
This is often the first time for new parents to help volunteer for fundraising activities. It is encouraged to sign-up for a shift to help with this as it will bring quality time with other parents that can share their experience with you and provide additional tips on what you can expect. You will build a network of parents that you can ask questions of. And the friendships you will begin to make through activities like this will help you to be more involved.
Golden Regiment Invitational Marching Festival
The Golden Regiment Invitational Marching Festival is hosted by Blue Springs High School each year in late September / early October. This event requires a lot of parent volunteers across a lot of different involvement levels. If you're someone that doesn't like to talk to people, we have a role for you. If you're a social butterfly there's places for you too. If you just want to drive a golf cart around all day, we have those options too. The activity of volunteering is more than just helping support the program. It gives you the opportunity to serve alongside other parents that have the same interest as you. Some may be new to this activity as well and you may develop friendships that last through the next four years in a single four hour shift. Others may be parents that have been in your spot in the past that can help answer questions about what the remainder of the season looks like. And the culmination of this event is the exhibition performance in which you will experience the first full view of the work that your student's been putting in complete with costumes and props.
Bands of America - St Louis
As with the Golden Regiment Invitational, this is another opportunity to serve as a volunteer for the competition in St Louis. Parents that volunteer receive a FREE BOA T-Shirt and admission to the competition ($100 value).
Use This Website
Much of the information contained in this site is to help prepare you more for the total experience with the program. You can learn more about the annual traditions. You can find out what types of activities the students can participate in. And you can access links like the Frequently Asked Questions and Who to Contact pages to help find important information when you need it.
Communication from the Band Staff
There are three important ways in which the band staff communicates with parents.
At the May Parent Meeting and Volunteer Fair, you'll learn about the Band app. This is a communication tool that allows the staff to share information with parents regarding rehearsals, performances, and other details that cannot be communicated in a public environment (to protect the safety of the students). When you get information on this, make sure you sign-up and turn on notifications to stay up-to-date.
You will also learn about Cut Time at the May Parent Meeting and Volunteer Fair. This is an email and text communication tool that the staff will use to send out important information. Make sure your contact information is up-to-date to receive these pertinent communications.
Finally, the students will receive "hand-outs" in class on a regular basis. Be actively involved with your student. If you don't know what's going on, ask your student "did you get a hand-out today?" Often times high school students don't like to show their parents information from class unless their asked.
Travel Planning
Parent travel with the band isn't required. But your experience will be enhanced when you can. And the energy the students have in their performance is elevated when they're in front of a supportive crowd.
When the details for travel are announced in May, you may want to begin looking at hotels immediately. For Bands of America competitions, many of the hotels will sell-out quickly from the large number of band room reservations. When making these reservations, it is recommended to do it through sites where the plans can easily be changed. You may book for Friday through Sunday only to find out in the fall that the plans have been changed based on performance times and the band is going to be traveling Saturday though Sunday. You won't want to face cancellation or reservation change charges if you used certain third party booking sites.
The band staff will hold an official travel meeting in the fall, typically two weeks prior to the first overnight trip. At this meeting, you'll learn more about how schedules are communicated and what you and your student can expect on their trips.
Use Other Parents For Questions
If your questions are about grades or specific classroom activities, they should always be directed to the band staff. But some questions may be easily answered by other parents that have gone through the season before. Visit the "Who Should I Contact" page on this site to get more information on parent contacts for various activities.
Payments
The booster organization has gone to great lengths to improve the experience for making payments for student fees. Payments can be made online via Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express. And each ensemble activity that has fees associated with it includes a dedicated page in this site with payment schedules, and other pertinent details. If you have questions about these payments or are having difficulty in keeping the schedule, please reach out to the booster organization bookkeeper at the link below.
