Dear former band director,

The amount of pain you have caused my band family and I is something that I can barely put into words...but I want to try.

When our last director left, I was broken. The man who taught me everything I knew on the field is leaving. I felt like the past couple of years with him weren't enough. Even though I was sad, he chose me to become section leader for a reason, and I promised myself I would keep going even though he wouldn't be there, and be the best captain I could be with my other fellow captain by my side. Band is my passion and no one will strip that from me.

From the first day you set foot on our campus, you knew you had big shoes to fill. You knew our band had a big reputation in the county...you had a lot on your plate at once. I completely understand that you were nervous, scared and homesick...as this was your first real band director job without any help. You were going through quite a lot and no one could understand.

When everyone was annoyed at you, and disrespected you to your face, I stood up for you. I wanted to give you a chance, but your actions throughout the year were unprofessional, unreasonable and quite cowardly. Band felt like a chore with you around.

You have hurt me in ways that were unimaginable. Not only did you make me feel small, you made my entire color guard section feel insignificant. WE ARE THE VISUALS! If your guard doesn't look appealing, what does that say about the rest of the band? You put us aside and didn't worry about us until it was too late.

The way you treated students who had jobs was downright appauling. If you haven't noticed, we live in a county where MANY familes struggle. Students have no choice but to work to not only pay band dues, but to help support their families. I'm not sure if you even know what the word "struggle" means. You act like missing one rehearsal for work is the end of the world. This is HIGH SCHOOL marching band, not a full on drum corps. You want to know what is more detrimental? Not being able to go to homecoming, prom or any other school activities because we owe fees to the school. You used the excuse of fund raisers being able to pay for band. That's kind of hard when we barely did any.

If there's one thing I can't stand in someone, it's favoritism. You were only nice to students who sucked up to you or kept up with their band payments. You let certain students participate in band activities while you told me, (and ONLY me) that I couldn't participate even though I was fundraising my butt off and bringing in close to $80 a week, more than most students. You knew I was trying, you knew I was struggling at home...but you didn't care. If I hadn't gone to the principal him what you were doing, who knows what else you would've taken from me.

I always told myself that I would not let anyone take my passion for band away from me. It felt like you were tugging it away from my heart. Band was the light in the darkness that was my home and school life, it was my safe place. Coming into the band room didn't feel like a home anymore. I felt lost, like I didn't belong anywhere anymore.

Fast forward to 8 months after I graduated. All I hope is that you don't treat your next band how you treated us. I'm trying to forgive, but I will never forget. I hope you take this all as a learning experience and I hope you grow in your teaching abilities so you never hurt anyone as much as you hurt my band and I.

Sincerely,

Vashti.