bandparent99

This shows and amazing lack of judgment by the UIL. First, lets look at safety. The last band will play at 12:45am. Announcements will come around 1:15 - 1:30am. Both are if the day stays on time. At around 2am, busses and trucks will be leaving the Alamodome. We will have bus drivers exhausted from sitting around all day, we will have truck driver (mostly volunteers) that will be weary from the long day, and will have parents and grandparents and fans - many with kids, driving home at 2am after cheering on the deserving bands. The schools within 100 miles are likely not staying overnight so this is a massive amount of bands, fans and families put in a very unsafe predicament. Granted travel risks are real at any time, but are compounded in the early morning hours. Second, think about the fans that would come with this schedule. Lets say a HS kid from BandX wants to come to watch their band perform. On a school night? 12:45 - Never. What about an eldery grandparent that tires easily - they will not come for the late show. Finally, what about the working parent, especially single parent, and especially the single parent with kids at home that has work at 8am the next morning. Will they be able to attend when they arrive at home 4am. Or will they choose to miss their childs biggest performance of the year. My guess is all these groups will be affected. Third, what about the performance implications. Look at the morning bands, some undoubtedly will be driving in Tuesday morning leaving there home schools at 5:00am. They won't return to their home until 3, 4 or 5 am the next morning. The UIL has an 8hour a week practice limit, yet has 23 hour a day expectation on the kids. The kids will be exhausted. Their performances will suffer. Options - If you read the website, the UIL offers no apology. At least give us the indication that you have thought of options. The reality is that any sort of planning would have avoided this but lets look at options. Most obvious is that Parents and fans pay $30 a piece for tickets, are you suggesting that the dome couldnt be secured for another day? Second, what about preliminaries for 1A or even 5A at an outdoor stadium in the SA area. Or alternatively, the 1A bands have only 13 bands so in the interest of time, the adjudicators could be asked to judge on a one-round only. This would free up two hours. The 1A bands could go from 5 - 8 so they get prime time, and the 5a finals roll right after. The disappointment in the UILs leadership is profound. They need to react before the temporary schedule becomes final. If the schedule stands, band parents need to seek out the UIL representatives at the dome and be heard.