.........."tying up some loose ends."

I think the post title just about sums up the rest of my career in teaching. I really do enjoy working with the band students. I enjoy the day-to-day class work, the extra rehearsals, the performances, and all the trips we take. I have truly been blessed to have led my working life as a junior high/high school band director. There are stories that I could tell that would make you both laugh and cry. The experiences seem to have little boundaries and certainly no end. So, why am I leaving the profession for retirement? Sometimes I ask myself the same question; but I always seem to come back to the inequity of it all. You see, teaching music in the public schools is a constant battle of justifying the program's mere existence on a daily basis. It's a thankless job, at best. I constantly being a cheerleader of sorts to my students, keeping their spirits high when there adoring public lets them down. Since we have been at our new consolidated high school, this band has traveled to every state in the Southeastern United States, we've played at theme parks, we've marched in parades and field show competitions in places that the citizens of our one-horse community would never dream of going. We've performed at the Nokia Sugar Bowl, the FedEx Orange Bowl, the Toyota Gator Bowl, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, and the BCS National Championship Bowl (NOLA). Our performance record has also included many, many steel drum band performances and parades galore. During the past ten years, I've taken the concert band to state concert contest on seven separate occasions. Of those seven contests, our band has scored an honor rating of "Superior" a total of five times. One would think that my students would be praised for their accomplishments; but, it very rarely happens. I even asked a local board of education member this year (who is a band parent) to have the board recognize the marching band at one of their meetings for their outstanding accomplishments - it never happened! We received our latest state "Superior" at concert contest just this past Thursday, and the principal has not even asked me about the trip. I had to announce the accomplishment myself, via email and school PA. It's no wonder that my students feel little worth in what they work so hard to do. It's no wonder why I'm ready to throw in the towel as well. Our superintendent has never been to a band concert or marching band event (that didn't involve a ballgame). Our principal always has an excuse the day after concerning why he wasn't able to attend. The board of education members have no problem coming to athletic events, but concerts just seem to be too much for their schedules to allow. Yes, teaching music in the public schools is a thankless job. I don't want the praise for myself - I get paid for what I do, and I get my rewards every time that I hear the ensemble sound a pitch! These students feel worthless; and as a result, the more successful we are, the smaller the participation in our ensembles. We're dying a slow, agonizing death in music education. Some will attempt to come to the rescue; but to no avail. I've pointed out these problems and solutions to the problems, to all levels of administration for a solid ten years - I have completely fallen on deaf ears. An adult who works here at the high school said to me this morning; "wow, your band really did well at contest!" Read that again, your band did well at contest. I quickly corrected her; "don't you mean, 'our band?'" She gave me the blank stare, and we parted ways. My case rests!