{"id":3775,"date":"2011-06-27T10:28:22","date_gmt":"2011-06-27T14:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=3775"},"modified":"2011-06-27T10:28:22","modified_gmt":"2011-06-27T14:28:22","slug":"unionville-high-band-to-play-at-bcs-title-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=3775","title":{"rendered":"Unionville High band to play at BCS title game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five-day trip approved by Board of Education means halftime performance, chance to compete on national stage<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a>EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 Unionville is going to the Bowl Championship Series championship game in New Orleans!<\/p>\n

Before you find yourself showering your screen with coffee or some other beverage, no it\u2019s not because every major Division I college football program is now on probation \u2014 in fact, coach Pat Clark\u2019s gridders will be well into their winter offseason \u2014 it\u2019s the marching band from Unionville High School that will be performing at halftime with a dozen other high school bands during the January championship game.<\/p>\n

But like the drama of which universities are selected for the game \u2014 and why \u2014 the Unionville trip proved a bit controversial for some board of education members during last week\u2019s meeting, concerned both about the cost of the trip as well as the academic impact of days away from school just after the holiday break at the end of the year \u2014 and because the request came in late and could not be vetted through the traditional process, including board subcommittees.<\/p>\n

Members Eileen Bushelow and Holly Manzone expressed concerns about the impact and cost of the trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m having a hard time supporting this,\u201d Bushelow said. \u201cAnd it didn\u2019t come in the way it should come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Band director Scott Litzenberg, who could not attend the meeting, sent apologies for the late submission, which came because of the late nature of the invitation from the BCS organizers. He asked for expedited approval because the band and the band members would need the extra time in the summer to raise money to pay for the trip, estimated at about $1,100 per student for the five-day trip. Waiting until August, he said, would mean that Unionville would have to decline and find another trip \u2014 which would be the first for the marching band in three years.<\/p>\n

In addition to the halftime performance, Unionville will compete in a band competition with the other high school bands with the winner doing a solo band show prior to the start of the game. Four years ago, Unionville garnered a similar invite to the Gator Bowl, where it won the band competition.<\/p>\n

Manzone said she was worried that the cost of the trip would exclude some students from being able to attend, which could hurt the band\u2019s ability to compete \u2014 and that some students might feel pressure to pay for a trip their families can\u2019t really afford.<\/p>\n

\u201cKids are encouraged that all must attend,\u201d Manzone said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re going on an extended trip, you can\u2019t be sure that every child can attend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Member Jeff Leiser, who served as a chaperone on the Gator Bowl trip, suggested his colleagues shouldn\u2019t underestimate the value of the trip as an educational experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the experience of a lifetime,\u201d he said. \u201cThe whole band just joined together — it was just of tremendous value to the participants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other board members, including board president Timotha Trigg and Jeff Hellrun expressed concerns about the lack of opportunity for parent input on the trip, but the band\u2019s booster organization — the parents — strongly supported the trip.<\/p>\n

In the end, the board voted 6-2, with Bushelow and Manzone dissenting, to allow the trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five-day trip approved by Board of Education means halftime performance, chance to compete on national stage By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 Unionville is going to the Bowl Championship Series championship game in New Orleans! Before you find yourself showering your screen with coffee or some other beverage, no it\u2019s not because every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,16,18],"tags":[387,33,386,24],"class_list":["post-3775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","category-schools","category-unionville-high-school","tag-bcs","tag-high-school","tag-marching-band","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}