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Residents, staff urge Richland County CUSD 1 board to return band to grandstand
Summary
Parents, alumni and a music department manager told the Richland County CUSD 1 board that moving the high school marching band out of the grandstand has harmed student morale and tradition. Board members said they will accommodate the band in future seasons and add seats to preserve grandstand placement.
Nancy Donnell, assistant to the director and music department manager at Richland County High School, asked the Richland County CUSD 1 board on Monday evening to return the high school marching band to the grandstand at home football games.
“You heard me — our students,” Donnell said during the public-comments portion of a special board meeting. “I may be one voice tonight, but I do not stand alone. I stand with students, parents, football players, cheerleaders, tailgaters, gators, and community members all asking for just one thing: put our band back in the grandstand.”
The band, Donnell said, has performed from the grandstand since the school opened in 1951. She told the board that Superintendent Cox moved the band to the northwest corner of the field last year and that, this season, students have been placed 60 to 100 feet down the track in front of tailgaters. Donnell said the change has left the 42-member band and six color-guard members feeling “invisible” and that their sound is drowned out.
At least 55 people attended a special meeting and 12 written statements were submitted, Donnell said, and parents and community members urged the board to restore the band’s traditional placement.
Jack Hyer, who identified himself as Class of ’78, told the board the band’s position is a long-standing community tradition and stressed the role the band plays in building school spirit. “When the students are moved out of the area in which they have traditionally been, it really segregates them,” Hyer said.
Board members discussed the recent placement decisions during the meeting’s recognition and public-comments period. Superintendent Fox said the band was moved to bleachers on the track last year as a temporary response when large crowds occupied the grandstand, and that the district has been adjusting placement in response to complaints.
“We have listened,” Fox said, describing conversations with staff and community members. He told the board that all three turf vendors responding to the athletic-complex bids have submitted alternates that would add roughly 500 seats in the home grandstand to create a permanent reserved area for the band going forward.
Several board members said they want the band back in the grandstand next season. “We just need to make sure next year then, I don't care if we've got 42 kids or 150 kids in the band — we need to be able to accommodate them then,” one board member said.
Board members and staff discussed short-term fixes for the remainder of the season, including roping off seats and posting signage to reserve space for the band. The athletic director told the board she will coordinate with the band instructor on seating protocols and will seek to reserve a permanent grandstand section for band placement as the district advances the athletic-complex plan.
The board did not adopt an immediate formal policy at the meeting; members directed staff to pursue seating and signage options and to include a reserved band section in final stadium plans for the athletic-complex project.
Community members who spoke asked the board to consider the band’s mental well-being, recruitment impacts and the role of tradition in student morale when finalizing stadium seating.
For now, the board said it will ensure the band’s placement is considered as part of the larger athletic-complex planning and that staff will present firm seating plans before the next season.
