GETTING TO FOOTBALL GAMES AN ISSUES FOR BRENHAM HIGH SCHOOL BAND
The Brenham High School band’s ability to get to football games on time is being hampered by transportation issues.
The ability of the band to get to out-of-town football games is being hampered due to late bus arrivals returning from taking students home at the end of the day.
Band Director Eric Rettig says that the band must wait for the buses to come back from their normal after school routes. He says the change occurred when the University Interscholastic League placed Brenham ISD into a new football alignment, a change was made to start the games at 7:00 instead of 7:30, as what was done in previous years.
“School is out at a set time, and the buses take a set amount of time to run their routes. It would not be said to ask the drivers to run their routes faster and they can’t start any earlier. The band can be ready to leave at any time. The past couple of weeks we were ready at 5, but we are waiting for buses and leave closer to 5:30.”
Also of concern is the role of traffic. “When we go to places like Tomball, we hit significant traffic on FM 2920 getting to the stadium, and there is nothing that can be done about that either,” says Rettig.
Rettig also ask for people to be patient “and understand that everyone involved is trying to get us safely to the game on time.”
What is also not being publicly broadcast is the fact that students are sitting at the schools waiting to go home well after the dismissal time because of the bus issues as well. Some children are not even getting home until after 5:00 when they live less than two miles from the school. These are also the same children that are picked up before sunrise.
As a parent of a young child, I am very thankful that I am able to transport my child to and from school in a timely manner, but in watching the children in my neighborhood that do not have the luxury of a parent to drive them to school, it makes me feel very sorry for them. By being on the bus that early, and getting home that late, surely makes for a very long school day for them.