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Band parents and students urge board to restore marching-band transportation; resident raises equity concerns
Summary
Three public commenters — the Orange High School Band Boosters president, a band student and a resident — asked the board to reinstate transportation subsidies for marching competitions and highlighted access inequities for low-income and minority students who lack after-school transport.
Three members of the public used the meeting's public-comment period to ask the board to reconsider district support for marching-band transportation and to highlight transportation-related equity issues.
Tracy Lloyd (speaker 14), who identified herself as president of the Orange High School Band Boosters, thanked the board for prior consideration and asked that the board direct funds to cover transportation for school-sponsored marching competitions so booster fundraising can focus on music education and equipment rather than travel. "By supporting your students in this way, you will not only strengthen the OHS music program, but allow us as band parents to direct our fundraising efforts more effectively toward music education and competition readiness," Lloyd said.
Yunko Newell (speaker 15), a rising senior and woodwind captain at Orange High School, told the board that the marching band pays for show props, equipment and travel largely through student fundraising and asked the board to "please reconsider considering reinstating the band's athletic department subsidy" when reviewing the upcoming budget, noting the band is one of the least-funded programs when it competes.
Saru Salvi (speaker 16) framed the issue as an access problem: she said roughly half the district's students are minority and 40% of those are economically disadvantaged, and argued that without reliable after-school transportation low-income students cannot fully participate in extracurricular activities. "If you don't supply after-school transportation for students, then you are creating an inequity for low income students that have no way of getting back and forth to events after the after-school programs," Salvi said.
Board members acknowledged the appeals and asked staff about where transportation and band supplements are currently budgeted; staff said bands and athletics receive district local funds allocated at the school level and that transportation for specific program trips may be covered historically by school- or program-level budgets and fundraisers. Staff offered to provide exact historical funding and allotment figures on request.
