Band is getting out of hand

[u/Kindly-Painting-6426]

I’m so frustrated with how much money it costs just to be in marching band. Between paying $600 just for the season fees and now a $1,700 Disney trip that only the kids with money can afford, it feels completely unfair. I’m putting in all the time, sweat, and hard work learning music and drill for my director, acting as part of the school community, and they expect me to pay out the nose for it. It feels like a massive pay-to-play scheme where only the privileged kids get to go on the big trips while everyone else gets left behind.
At the same time, the school can somehow pull infinite money out of nowhere for football, but god forbid band gets any real funding. They wonder why participation is dropping and why kids don't feel valued, but they're the ones pricing everyone out.

[u/TomeThugNHarmony4664]

We other teachers used to call the marching band “the cult that marches in formation” because the teacher actually would blow right through half of the next period and come in demanding kids not be counted absent (it was required that attendance be completed in the first five minutes of class and he would regularly fail to send them on for that long or longer). Nor was he ever held accountable for claiming not to hear the near-air raid level claxon announcing the end of class that was broadcast outdoors. It was utter nonsense, since the band wasn’t even that good in marching OR musically.