Today, we sent the final note canceling our trip to Washington DC orriginally scheduled for July of this year. It saddens me to do it, but student (and chaperone) safety is and will continue to be our first concern when dealing with travel. Jared, Mr. Ewry, and I felt it best to not travel to such a diverse and populated area even if the lockdown were to be lifted before July. An e-mail will come shortly to those of you who have registered for the trip pertaining to refunds. We expect a 100% refund of all money put into the trip. However, that refund may take a few weeks as the company works to get the money back from the vendors. More details will be in the email coming from Music Travel. From my understanding, no action is required on your end. This is a school-cancelation and will be handled by the staff and the company.
I know this was to be a capstone trip for many of our seniors and this goes into the long list of items that COVID-19 has taken. To help mitigate that, I have started legwork on the possibility of a new trip planned for December 2020 (if the virus allows) where we can invite past seniors back. A number of things have to go right for this to heppen not least of which is that there must be a drastic decrease in risk aquiring a virus from a global pandemic. I can tell you that it would be a Marching Band trip again and it would occur over when most college's winter breaks happen (to allow the seniors to more easily slip back in). Beyond that, nothing is firm enough to share.
Chris Hall, the Exeutive Director of OMEA, said in a recent e-mail to all music educators in the state of Ohio:
Thank you for your flexibility and patience in this time. Until we talk again,
#OneSchool #OneSound #OneFamily
Nicholas Turon