Dear Colleagues,
As you are all aware, the Region 6 auditions had to be postponed due to a Winter Weather Advisory issued for the counties in that Region. We were informed this morning by the Superintendent of Spartanburg District 4 that we had to vacate the premises at 1:00 PM today, which was the start of the Winter Weather Advisory. Knowing we would not be able to complete the entire audition during that time frame, we had no other option but to postpone the auditions for Region 6.
Once that decision was made, we had two options: to postpone ALL Region auditions to the Inclement Weather Date or to allow Regions 1-5 to continue as scheduled and only postpone Region 6. Due to the timing of the postponement, it was determined that the best course of action was to allow all other Regions to continue as scheduled.
To be fair to the students and directors in Region 6, all results will be held until the conclusion of the Region 6 auditions, which will take place on the Inclement Weather Date of January 26. I know that for those of you that had students audition today, waiting the two weeks for results is extremely frustrating. Please note, however, that if we decided to go with the second option (postpone all Regions), it would be the same timeline for results.
As a fellow band director that had students audition today, including my own daughter, I know how extremely disappointing this is. Although some directors may disagree with this decision, it is in alignment with our Bylaws and procedures. Chapter 4, Section IX, Letter A states: Directors will be able to view their region audition results on Bandlink website within two days following the auditions. Region auditions will be completed on January 26 and results will be on Bandlink by January 28. Given the one week turnaround for the All-State auditions, the Region Chairmen and Technology Chairman will work diligently to get this information to you sooner rather than later.
It is important to note that the SCBDA has taken steps to ensure that the integrity of this process remains intact. The Chairmen in Regions 1-5 were instructed not to seat, assign callbacks, or have committees verify scores in which student names were involved. Therefore, there were no final results compiled on Saturday, January 12. The Chairmen in these Regions will submit their results once Region 6 concludes their auditions. Although Region Office workers in those Regions had no way of knowing or seeing any type of final results, all workers signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement and will face arbitration procedures, as outlined in the SCBDA Bylaws, if they break this legally binding document.
Due to this postponement, our All-State auditions, including All-State Jazz, will now take place on February 2, 2019, at Lexington High School. Your Region Chairman will be in touch with more information and results when available.
Sincerely,
Leah H. Turner, President
South Carolina Band Directors Association