Marching band hopes School Board will OK trip to China

If the Collier County School Board approves a request for a March band trip today, Barron Collier High School band members will learn more than only scales and new music during practice.

They’ll brush up on their Chinese.

The band has requested that the School Board approve a trip to Beijing. If approved, students would have an opportunity to perform in the 2007 American Celebration of Music in China, said Kelly Parker, BCHS band director.

“The way I look at it is like this: The marriage of the East and West is going to happen with or without our approval,” Parker said.

Students would leave for China on March 30 and return April 9. The trip falls during spring break, meaning students would only miss two days of school, Parker said. Students would perform on the Great Wall of China, at two Chinese conservatories and right outside Tiananmen Square.

The trip will cost about $2,800 each.

Schools can’t begin fundraising for trips until they have received approval from the School Board, said board member Linda Abbott.

“We are starting to fund raise the moment this gets passed,” Parker said. “The community of Collier County has been so supportive of our trips in the past, and we are very grateful to the people who continually support us.”

BCHS principal Ron Miller said he expects the request to pass with ease.

“I don’t anticipate any problems,” Miller said. “The School District has been very, very supportive of the Barron Collier High School band in the past.”

This is not the first time the band has traveled internationally, Parker said. The first was in 1990 to Australia and New Zealand, and subsequent trips have brought the band to several European countries.

In the past, the School Board has looked to the U.S. Department of State’s travel warnings to determine whether the location is safe, Abbott said.

Beijing is not listed currently as a place of concern, according to the State Department’s Web site.

“I’m not sure we have had travel quite so extensive before,” Abbott said. “But, to my knowledge, we haven’t had any problems on trips before.”

Earlier this year in Lee County, Superintendent James Browder expressed that he did not want the Fort Myers High School band to attend the London New Year’s parade. The district initially cited the safety of the students as the reason it opposed the plan, but the Lee School Board eventually approved the trip.

Eric Williams, Collier assistant superintendent for secondary education, said he does not believe an international trip has been denied in the past. Williams said since the trip is not mandatory, it is ultimately up to the parents to decide whether their students may attend.

Parker said the school will take all precautions to ensure the students are safe while in Beijing.

“We have no concerns at all,” Parker said.

Parker said, aside from chaperones, the band will enlist the guidance of Chinese-American tour guides once in Beijing. The use of the tour guides means the school has native speakers who are in tune with both cultures, Parker said.

The Naples High School band also wants to travel, but not abroad.

School Board members will consider whether to approve a Naples High band trip to San Francisco. The band would leave Naples on April 1 and return April 5, meaning students would not miss any school.

NHS students would have the chance to play at Fisherman’s Wharf, Golden Gate Park and Six Flags, on the east side of the San Francisco Bay.

The trip to San Francisco will cost about $1,400 per person.

Abbott said her concern with trips like these aren’t in the travel, but in the cost.

“A concern I have, and one that has been asked about, is that if a large trip is planned too often, it can become too (financially) taxing on parents,” Abbott said. “If many of the students plan on attending, it’s very difficult for a parent to say no.”

Of the 250 BCHS band members, Parker said she expects about 80 percent will attend the trip.