Dear Marching Ram Band Parents and Students:

Welcome again to the 2015-2016 school year at Cheshire High School.  This is the second letter we are sending to kick off the new Band Programs season.

A primary goal of the new BPA Board of Directors is to improve communication and attempt to be more transparent with the business of the Band Parents Association (BPA).  More on that from Laura in future correspondence.  The BPA maintains a website:  www.ramband.com.  I am happy to report that we successfully rebuilt the website on the Google Sites platform and pointed it to our ramband.com domain this morning, completely replacing the old site.  I am the Webmaster – my first such project.  There is much more content to put up, and I still need to figure out how to revise Google Search criteria and other settling in stuff, but the new site is up and running.  If anyone is interested in publishing content to the site, please let me know.  I’ll be happy to post select pictures and hope to post links to performance videos on the site during the competition season.  Our goal is to once again have a robust website to which you will all want to go to as your first stop for current CHS Band Programs and Guard information.

We will continue to partner with the Band Director and use the Charms web-service as our database of record, and to originate information (emails) from Charms to you.  If you are not receiving emails to your desired address, please check that your email address is correct in Charms.  Your student has access and is required by the Band Director to update Charms at the beginning of the school year, so please help us help you by having your student update his or her profile to include YOUR new or revised preferred contact information.  Lastly, if you use one, please check your spam folder settings and add CharmsEmailSender@charmsmusic.com to the safe recipient list so Charms emails will get through.  

            Now, on to the business of this letter.  There are several forms accompanying this letter.  They have already been posted individually to the BPA website - go find them, and take a tour of the new site while you’re at it.  Forms are very important, and a necessary evil at the beginning of every season.

• There are eight BPA forms.  We’ve attempted to make these as self-explanatory as possible and easy to fill out.  Please complete and return all of them together as a packet in a single large envelope, with your students name, instrument, school grade, and Band or Guard clearly written on it.  Please enclose all required payments, with separate checks for separate purposes.  Form 4 applies to Musicians only.  Form 6 applies to Guard and Drum Major only.

• There are seven Cheshire Public Schools forms, all of them Medical in nature, only two of them required by ALL students.  One is required by 10^th Grade Students only, and four of them are to be used only as necessary.  The required Physical Exam must be completed prior to start of band camp or your child will not be allowed to practice marching which will put them at a disadvantage.

• For 9^th, 11^th, & 12^th Grade Students, CHS will provide free Physical Exams on Wednesday, August 12^th at 9am in the Nurse’s Office.  Nurse Ruddy will have the form to be filled out that day.

• For 10^th Grade Students, Connecticut State Law requires a complete Physical Exam by a Medical Doctor prior to the start of school and band pre-season.  The Connecticut Health Assessment Record, Form 15, shall be utilized.  This form shall be turned into Nurse Ruddy.

• If your student takes Prescription Medication which will need to be administered by School Personnel, Form 10 must be filled out by your child’s Prescriber.  This form shall be turned into Nurse Ruddy.

• PLEASE BE SURE TO PICK UP A RECEIPT FROM NURSE RUDDY UPON TURNING IN COMPLETED PHYSICAL AND PRESCRIPTION FORMS.  The School Nurse’s receipt is to be given to the Band Director’s office, and shall be included in the envelope with the BPA forms.

• Form 9, Student Medical Information, is required of ALL students.  This form shall be included in the envelope with the BPA forms.

• Form 12, Field Trip Release and Permission Slip, is required of ALL students.  Please also provide a photocopy of your child’s Medical Insurance Card to accompany this form.  This form shall be included in the envelope with the BPA forms.

• Forms 11, 13 and 14 shall be utilized only if they apply to your child.  These forms shall be included in the envelope with the BPA forms.

            Forms and payments are due on August 17^th, 2015, the first day of Band Camp.  We already have at least one volunteer band parent ready to accompany Mrs. Waitkus by the Lock Box to take custody of your envelope and check your child’s name off the list.  The forms packet can be mailed in as well, however, we highly recommend you save yourself postage and request that you hand deliver them securely on August 17^th where they can be quickly reviewed for completeness.

            Photography day is Thursday, August 20^th, 8:30am through 1pm.  Band Camp follows.  Photo sessions will be done by Section, so your child will not be required to be in attendance all morning.  The Band Director will promulgate a Section photography schedule by early in the first week of Band Camp.  The Quartermaster’s will be doing uniform fittings during the week to prepare for photography day so your student may be asked to come in early one of the days prior.

Here is a recap of upcoming pre-season dates and activities.  You can also see this information in the calendars or upcoming event sections in either Charms or at www.ramband.com.

            We look forward to an exciting season and hope to see you often.

Mark Nowicki

Secretary, CHS BPA

For the President and BPA Board of Directors