I would like to reply to Bonnie Solomon’s letter to the editor ("Band Camp Should Not Be District’s Obligation") which appeared in the May 2 issue of the Sentinel.
I am sorry you are enraged that the band attended Camp Starlight and that you feel the band is attending a holiday camp. I wish certain residents like yourself would get their facts straight before spouting off inaccurate comments.
As a parent of an East Brunswick High School Marching Band member, I can tell you that band camp has been held at Camp Towanda, in Honesdale, Pa., for the past five years. I should know since my daughter has been a member of the band since eighth grade. Band camp is not an exotic vacation for these students; in fact, most of the members dread it because it is six days of grueling work, learning drills and rehearsing music in order to prepare for the upcoming band competition season.
The band leaves early on a Sunday in mid-August and does not return until late the following Friday afternoon. The kids and chaperones are up at the crack of dawn and do not finish until 11 p.m. They sleep in barracks-like cabins. While they are allowed an hour or two of free time a day, they are not there for fun and games. It is more like boot camp rather than a vacation, as has been alluded to.
Regarding making band parents pay for band camp, I would like to know how many other school activities engage in fund-raising activities as does the band? Parents and band members alike work at the concession stands at Rutgers University during football and basketball season, conduct an annual fruit sale and hold car washes. At band camp, as the band works on the field, parents are hard at work sewing and stitching outfits for the color guard.
It is highly ironic that the Board of Education singled out band camp and made the band scapegoats the past two years when submitting the school budget. I like sports, but to make a point, why not single out the football program or other activities? Why is it just the band? If people want one group to pay its way, then all should do the same, every single extracurricular activity.
It is a shame the board has to single out one group of kids and subject them to comments made by angry taxpayers.
Steve Williams
East Brunswick