Posted on behalf of Mr. Pirzer: Parents and Students,
As many of you are aware, this year's GHS Yearbook did not contain any pages specifically featuring the band program. I am sending out this email to help answer some of your questions why, and to also tell you what is being done to resolve the situation.
First, what happened? In years past, the band would have 4 pages in the yearbook. Two pages were included in the sports and activities section and the other two we would purchase in addition so we could feature each of the marching band sections individually and give each student's name. These two pages were usually towards the back of the yearbook similar to where you will find the team photos in the yearbook this year.
Typically, we pay for these additional pages in the fall during marching season and then we take the sectional pictures. This year when the folks from yearbook came to me about the additional pages, I found the price had gone up considerably, and I could not justify taking that much money out of my budget for the extra pages. I had communications with the yearbook coordinator, and I thought that we were still going to receive our first two pages toward the front of the book. I guess that I misunderstood what was actually being said, and it turns out that there was very big miscommunication between the yearbook staff and myself.
As it went, I paid no more attention to it, and assumed the other two pages would be included. As the yearbook folks took it, I was to pay for those two pages. Of course, I did not find out until the yearbook came out that the pages had not been included.
Now, I know most of you are asking why should we have to pay to be in the yearbook, and I totally understand why, because I asked that same question as well. What has happened is that a mistake and some oversight has been made on two ends. I made the mistake of thinking all was well, and I did not follow up to make sure, so I am more than happy to take a part of the blame. Also, the staff of the yearbook should have been clearer as to what they needed from me so that we would not have had this omission. I do want to say that the yearbook staff does a fantastic job with the book, and we have never had any issues like this before. The fact of the matter is that a mistake was made by several parties, myself included, and now we have to work on a resolution to the problem. In my mind, we all make dozens of mistakes everyday and this time it just happened to be this.
As soon as Dr. Dixon found out about this unfortunate mistake, he came to me and apologized for the mistake and discussed with me the following resolution. I will tell you that Dr. Dixon is doing everything he possibly can to resolve this problem as quickly as he can. Dr. Dixon and the entire administration and faculty at GHS have always been very supportive of the band and I cannot ask any more than that. I know some of you have already contacted the administration and that is your right, but I want you to know that this administration goes out of its way to support us and to make our program as strong as it can be. They do more on a daily basis to help us then even I know, things like scheduling, funding and fighting for our program at many levels. We are very blessed to have the support staff that we do and I will support them all the way.
Now, the resolution. Dr. Dixon has asked the yearbook staff to produce a four page layout that will be printed as quickly as the printing company can do it. I am providing more photos to the yearbook staff from all parts of the year. Each member of the band and guard will receive a copy of these pages even if they did not purchase a yearbook. These pages will be able to be inserted into the existing yearbook. We hope to have these pages before school is out, but they may not get here until after school is out, at which point the students can pick them up from me or perhaps through the front office over the summer.
I feel like this is the best thing that can be done now to fix the mistake.
Once again, we all apologize for the mistake and can definately promise you that it will not happen again.
Have a good weekend,
Bill
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