I was filled with pride and honor while watching the presidential inauguration on Monday, January 21, 2013. My pride does not come from the happenings of the presidential lunch, nor am I impressed by the gifts or even swearing in. My pride comes from seeing a local high school band march in Washington D.C. As you have read in my previous articles, The Palm Springs High School “Spirit of the Sands” Marching Band and Visual Corps were invited to march and perform in the inauguration parade, and needed help getting there. As you may have guessed, they made it. In the late afternoon, valley time, I watch the Spirit of the Sands honor and represent our valley to the nation. The moment lasted only a few minutes, but the moment will be remembered indefinitely for those young teenagers, their friends, their families, their school, and hopefully by all of us. I encourage all of you to send your congratulations to the Palm Springs High School band, and a thank you for helping our valley be known.
As a heads-up to all you parents, Friday, January 25, 2013, is the end of the second quarter for our valley schools. If your kids are anything like mine, this means we need to spend extra time shuffling through the bottom of backpacks for report cards. If by chance your child “loses” his or her report card, every school in the valley has some type of online information system, such as Grade Link or Home Access. Online information systems will state your child’s grade, give detailed assignment history, attendance record, and teacher comments. Honestly, I don’t know why we send report cards home at all anymore. Be on the lookout for those grades, they should be coming home Friday, January 25.
Also on Friday, January 25, Cathedral City High School is hosting a performance that includes many school bands within the Palm Springs Unified School District (PSUSD). The PSUSD states, “The Bands of Cathedral City High School, James Workman Middle School, and Nellie N. Coffman Middle School are proud to announce their 5th annual Collaborative Concert on Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. at the CCHS Theatre. Titled the “All Cathedral City Concert”, the event features the three band programs performing together on the same stage in one mass band.” As always, I encourage you all to attend the concert to show your support. Our school bands and educational institutions need our support. We should give it whenever we can.
