This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our band students.

This is a good experience for the students to get involved in. It can become intense and stressful, but they all pull together and work together as a team. It's something fun to become involved with, because unlike many other competitions, its all gray, it's not black and white, and it's a true challenge. We had a really good team this year that pulled it all together.

We are concerned that we provide a good experience for our students. We have a good faculty; we just need to help them get along.

They've never had a saddle on, or been worked with. We want students to experience that first.

They were immediately told to gather in the cafeteria and then led out of the building. Most of the students, though, never made it in the door. They were stopped outside and directed by staff to an off-site gathering area.

It's unfortunate that before we even arrived at the meeting place yesterday, the students who called for the meeting had announced another public protest. It felt like they were more interested in getting publicity for themselves than they were in hearing if any real progress could be made or an agreement could be established.