All good stuff here.

I would definitely second #2b. I have had many colleagues whom I went to school with take over good small school bands with 65 (or so) players....a good size, especially for 3A and down. They all thought that they had just inherited Phantom Regiment, programmed a show that difficult, and expected the kids to show up and use all 8 hours available to rehearse. Then they had the nerve to wonder why their 65 piece band is all of the sudden now a 20 piece band...then proceed to blame the administration for it.