This reminds me of what happened to my son:
We moved to Houston when he was entering 6th grade. I emailed the HBD at the school he would be attending to see when my kid could get an audition for percussion. Not a placement - just an audition.

HBD emails and says percussion is closed. We have spots for trumpet or clarinet. That's it. Everything else is full. BTW, don't be like this person.

So I had a meeting with him and the other bds. Said look, try this kid out. If he doesn't pass the test, cool, we will go from there. If he does, I do expect that he will be in that class. We will pay for lessons as well. I was met with some pretty dumb retorts:
1) Why wasn't he tested at his previous school? We knew we were coming to Houston.
2) Why should we do this? Because its the fair thing to do.
3) What do I say to other parents whose kid missed the test? I don't know. My job is to advocate for my son. It's your job to figure that stuff out.

I had to talk with the principal, who was very reasonable. Much more so than the HBD.

Skip forward - that kiddo graduated last year as the Front Ensemble Captain.


Bottom line - have guidelines yes, but be flexible in what you can do, as there is always a new situation that you might not have expected.


Tim