Pick a show that relies on a strong trumpet section. Have half the section fail due to one teacher refusing to put in grades, then have the soloist get jumped by another kid in math class two days prior to UIL, so they spend a week in ISS. Make your fourth-best trumpet player learn a solo in two days because of it.

Or, another year, have your drum major and cross country kid get literally mauled by a stray dog at cross country practice and require reconstructive facial surgery.

I know of a large urban ISD program that had no practice field of any kind due to renovations. No parking lot on campus able to be used, no functional athletic fields on the campus. Nearest option is three miles away. But they were required to march.

This one happened to me for concert evaluation. Was doing a piece with a trumpet solo. Trumpet soloist was also on the track team - it had been incredibly rainy that year. The track coach found a rescheduled track meet on the day of UIL and mandated all track athletes run, or they wouldn't be allowed to run at regionals. Kid was pursuing a track scholarship (which they achieved) but I was out my soloist because the coach wouldn't budge, and admin was a former coach and so backed them 100%.

Plenty of situations happen to our inner city friends. 4s don't always happen there because of bad teaching. There's often things well outside a director's control.

I'd go so far as to say that plenty of bands earn 4s because of their directors, but plenty more earn them in spite of their directors. And all of the judgmental suburban directors who have never faced the every-day situation that rural directors and urban directors do should walk a mile in someone else's shoes before they throw shade.