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Pep rallies

Posted by 2A'er on 2/26/2026, 12:56 pm

How many of you are being asked to do pep rallies this time year?

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by ovwrkdnundrpd on 3/3/2026, 7:33 am, in reply to "Pep rallies"

We have them all year long.

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by 6A HS on 2/28/2026, 5:13 pm, in reply to "Pep rallies"

We usually do two pep rallies in the spring. One that recognizes all spring sports and one for Black History Month.

We do a smaller scale "sendoff" for any team that makes playoffs, just drumline and cheerleaders on the front steps for a few minutes.

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by Curious on 2/27/2026, 1:00 pm, in reply to "Pep rallies"

While I understand that getting the band out there performing is important, I made it very clear to my admin that pep rallies are part of what we do during our marching season. We do not perform in pep rallies after marching season ends. I put it to them this way:

"Pep rally season has ended. Those instruments are packed away in storage until the summer. We are now in 'concert season'. Asking us to perform in a pep rally at this point would be like asking the football team to get together to play a game while those kids are in the middle of basketball season. It is not appropriate at this time for the band to play that style at this point in the year."

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by Snerk on 2/27/2026, 2:04 pm, in reply to "Re: Pep rallies"

"Director refuses to support other school activities and initiatives and is not a team player."

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by why on 3/4/2026, 7:25 am, in reply to "Re: Pep rallies"

Why is it that the band directors that are the only ones that must be a "team player?" How many times do the activities that we support actually come to our performances to support us? Why is it only the band that is forced to support all other activities when no other organization is forced to do the same?
It's out of season for us to do pep rallies in the spring. If communicated properly to administration, they should understand.
Don't get me wrong, I love to support all of our students. I attend their games and activities as often as I can. Does the band get exposure for doing these? Sure. But what kind of exposure are you getting for publicly playing music that you haven't looked at or rehearsed for 4 months? It could easily be the wrong exposure. But, who listens to the band at pep rallies anyway. LOL!

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by Curious on 3/2/2026, 7:48 am, in reply to "Re: Pep rallies"

"Director's program is extremely successful and Director is trusted to make decisions necessary to maintain a successful program." I have an extremely supportive administration that understands fine arts programs. We have contests (evaluations) of our own that we are preparing for. If they 100% insist that we play at a pep rally in Febrary or March, then we will play one of our contest pieces.

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by Mr. Dude on 3/3/2026, 10:52 am, in reply to "Re: Pep rallies"

I literally had a pep rally 2 days before concert and sight reading one year...it was for Special Olympics and I wasn't backing out of it no matter what. We still ended up with a sweepstakes.

Yes, you can be good and be a team player. Not saying you're not good, your band could be outstanding, but for the sake of conversation on this topic, I think it's okay to point out that both can be right.

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by Okay... on 3/3/2026, 12:12 pm, in reply to "Re: Pep rallies"

I can agree with you on principle, but to be fair, 2 days from UIL your band was already at a sweepstakes level; the pep rally probably didn't affect UIL one way or the other.

I think the main gist of the discussion is if there are *constant* disruptions of the school routine adversely affecting things.

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by Yep... on 2/27/2026, 8:44 am, in reply to "Pep rallies"

Where do I start with this one?

These are the pep rallies I have had to do in the spring...every year:

Every home basketball game,
Every time a team gets on a bus and travels,
Every time the cheerleaders get on a bus,
Every time One-Act gets on a bus,
The day of the STAAR test,
The day of the PRACTICE STAAR test,

and here's the topper...

The day of the MOCK PRACTICE STAAR test. Yes, you read it correctly...we practice for the PRACTICE test.

And Administration still hasn't figured out why our STAAR scores are low.

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by 4add on 2/27/2026, 1:26 pm, in reply to "Re: Pep rallies"

Thankfully I'm not asked to play for these tests, but that sounds like my campus. We've had almost as many testing days in 2026 as we have class days.

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by Amused on 2/27/2026, 11:50 am, in reply to "Re: Pep rallies"

Hilarious!!!

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by Pretzel Guy on 2/27/2026, 11:04 am, in reply to "Re: Pep rallies"

I'm surprised TEA hasn't informed them why. They came and saw that our dismissal process was taking away 20 minutes of instructional time and made our admin change it.

Re: Pep rallies

Posted by Yep... on 2/27/2026, 10:37 pm, in reply to "Re: Pep rallies"

I'm sure TEA has. The problem with out Admin., from the School Board down is that they are delusional...as in arranging deck chairs on the Titanic delusional. So they will promptly "file" what TEA tells them.

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