Belpre marching band eliminated

Officials: Too few students interested to justify expense

By Kate York, kyork@mariettatimes.com
Local parades and marching band competitions will soon be missing one district’s band, with the Belpre board of education expected to eliminate the program later this month.

It’s one cut of many the district is having to make, including closing Stone Elementary, in order to become financially solvent, but for the students who make up the band, it’s a particularly difficult one.

“I’m not too happy,” said Belpre High School junior Megan Pribble, captain of the band’s color guard and member for four years. “A lot of people are upset that we’re not going to have a band, and then there are some who are just saying ‘It sucks, but I’ll just do another activity.’”

Belpre Superintendent Harry Fleming said the instrumental music program will continue as a class but there were no longer enough students participating in the marching band to justify the costs of keeping it going.

“I think it’s an important program, but we need more participation,” he said. “The numbers have really dwindled in the last half dozen years and we didn’t have enough participating.”

Fleming said there are five high school students currently in the band and four seventh- and eighth-graders.

As a result of the restructuring, band director Andrew Bennekamper will lose his position as a music instructor because he had the least seniority of the music teachers, Fleming said.

The district will no longer have to pay Bennekamper’s salary and benefits or his supplemental contract for serving as band director, although Fleming did not have an exact cost savings available.

“Our hope is to have a band program again someday,” he said. “It would be great if we could build it back up.”

Meanwhile, the cuts being made in Belpre have made parents in other Washington County districts nervous about the possibility of losing their bands, particularly in the Warren district, which is also in the midst of creating a cost-savings plan.

Warren Superintendent Tom Gibbs said cutting the band has never even been considered.

“I think people think if Belpre is doing this, it’s one of the first cuts to make,” he said. “But Belpre is doing it because of declining (band) enrollment. Our band is very healthy so it’s low on our list—we generally look at where we have the lowest enrollment if we have to make cuts.”

There are about 120 students in the Warren High School band.

The Belpre board of education is expected to vote May 19 on eliminating the band, Fleming said.

Pribble, who was one of 40 students in the band her first year, said she’ll miss traveling with the band and helping to encourage school spirit her senior year.

“I definitely planned to be in the band for my last year,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun to hang out with all your friends and get to go see what other schools do. I’ll miss it.”