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Parents urge High Point Regional board to refill assistant band director after in-class announcement
Summary
At the Sept. 24 board meeting, parents and local music educators urged the High Point Regional High School Board of Education to post or refill a vacated assistant band director position after administrators reportedly announced to students that it would not be filled, warning of long‑term harm to the music program.
John Hartlidge, a parent and long‑time music educator, told the High Point Regional High School Board of Education on Sept. 24 that administrators announced in front of students that the assistant band director position would not be filled.
"They came into concert band class and informed not only the students, not only the director, but the students in present, in front of them, that they would not be filling the assistant band director position," Hartlidge said. He described the band program as having about 55 students now and said that number could double as middle‑school participation rebounds.
The comments formed the core of several public remarks asking the board to reconsider the staffing decision. One commenter, who spoke at length about program impacts, said the vacancy "has delivered such a blow to the program," arguing that specialized instruction (for example brass and private lessons) is difficult to replace and that losing the assistant constrains offerings and students' competitiveness for college admissions.
Another public commenter summarized the instructional burden left on the director: "Our director now has to now do double the work," the commenter said, calling attention to the loss of specialist skills that the assistant previously provided.
Board members did not take formal personnel action on the position during the meeting. The chair closed the first public‑comment segment and the board continued with scheduled reports and votes on agenda items. The transcript does not record a follow‑up motion or timeline for posting the assistant band director vacancy.
Why it matters: multiple speakers warned that without an assistant to provide specialist instruction and smaller private‑lesson groupings, the program risks attrition just as middle‑school music participation returns after COVID disruptions. Parents asked the board to consider posting the vacancy or otherwise restore staff to avoid long‑term harms to the program.
What happened next: after public comments the board proceeded with standard agenda business (presentations, approvals and recognitions) and accepted several donations; no vote on the assistant band director position is recorded in the transcript.
The board is scheduled to meet again in October (the Oct. meeting date was noted as changed to Oct. 29); the transcript does not show whether the staffing question will be placed on a future agenda.
