Anonymous wrote: The students pay a fee to participate, don’t they? Maybe that is where the funds come from.

Students do not pay a fee. Directing a school choir, and directing 700 singers in a 2-day festival are 2 different things. Music teachers prepare students for 5-6 months so that they are prepared for the 2-day festival and the 10 songs they need to learn. You really need a dynamic conductor to keep the students energized over the course of those 2-days, which are very tiring for students. The students really loved working with her, and all the music teachers involved in various roles throughout the festival were able to learn from her as well. Win win! It was a GREAT concert.

Anonymous wrote:I am thankful that FCPS supports music education. I have absolutely no complaints about this.

+1 what a ridiculous complaint to begin with.

I am thankful that FCPS supports music education. I have absolutely no complaints about this.

The students pay a fee to participate, don’t they? Maybe that is where the funds come from.

Anonymous wrote:This weekend’s ACC was great!
The kids seemed to love the conductor, who was flown in from St. Louis.

Why, oh why, does FCPS need to pay to fly in an out of town conductor when we no doubt have a plethora of talented musical professionals in our area?

Isn’t this the answer?
“This weekend’s ACC was great!
The kids seemed to love the conductor…”.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a waste of money for something that impacts so few kids.

You’re right. Let’s just spend it all on sports and the jocks.

Yup that’s exactly what was said. Also why does everyone on this website refuse to accept that some kids do sports and arts/music? Such small minded people. No wonder your kids are jerks.

Someone sh@tting on a music festival does not have a kid participating in this. Otherwise that’s pretty crappy.

You don't know anything about the musical world, OP. Musicians travel all the time for work. It's expected. At that level, they also have multiple jobs to make ends meet. It's entirely normal for a conductor or musical decision team in FCPS to know another conductor and call them in, regardless of where their day job is. They presumably called a dozen people, from all over, including this area, and this person was the one who was available for the price.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a waste of money for something that impacts so few kids.

You’re right. Let’s just spend it all on sports and the jocks.

Yup that’s exactly what was said. Also why does everyone on this website refuse to accept that some kids do sports and arts/music? Such small minded people. No wonder your kids are jerks.

This is a huge event directly impacting 700 students. It was a fantastic concert and extremely well done. I’m not always a fan of the decisions FCPS makes, but I’m fine with this one.

Anonymous wrote:It’s a waste of money for something that impacts so few kids.

You’re right. Let’s just spend it all on sports and the jocks.

It’s a waste of money for something that impacts so few kids.

why are we mad?

It’s a special festival event. It’s once a year. The conductor hand-selected the pieces and runs the two day festival. They are from a University and are higher trained than an elementary teacher. They are skilled in handling 600 voices. This is not an easy feat.

I don't know about ACC, but for Orchestra, they typically bring in someone who is higher caliber than school teachers, like someone that conducts in a university. DD just returned from All Virginia, and the conductor was a lovely man from University of Wisconsin.

This weekend’s ACC was great!
The kids seemed to love the conductor, who was flown in from St. Louis.

Why, oh why, does FCPS need to pay to fly in an out of town conductor when we no doubt have a plethora of talented musical professionals in our area?