I am the former activities director for Westminster Assisted Living. The reason I am writing you is to provide feedback regarding the CHS Band. My daughter is a clarinet player in both marching and symphonic bands for Cullman High School. She also has chronic asthma and sees a pulmonary specialist twice yearly at Children’s Hospital for her condition. She was born with fluid in her lungs, which resulted in scarring. After years of “treatment” at Cullman Primary Care (constantly sick with respiratory issues), we were referred to her specialist and she has been correctly medicated and controlling her asthma ever since. In short, she is definitely in the high-risk zone should she contract COVID-19.
We’ve been extremely cautious this entire time. She’s been physically isolated and even cut down on trips to see her father, who lives in a more metro area of Huntsville, during the summer break.
However, she has always loved school. She thoroughly enjoys participating in the band as well as the math/geometry/algebra teams. She’s always excelled beyond expectations in school, and always worked very hard to achieve all of her incredible successes.
And I am one proud mom. I am also an educated mom. And a protective mom. I’ve seen numerous people around campus not wearing masks. I’ve seen groups of students hanging out at the tennis courts or the ball fields or the parks. I’ve seen parents with masks around their necks, not covering their mouths or noses. I’ve seen people even glare at me for wearing a mask myself.
My opinion? Get over yourself. Assisted living facilities that house our true heroes and community leaders are still in quarantine. My father is a registered nurse for our mental health care facility, and we know first-hand how this pandemic has impacted the community in so many ways. The sooner people comply with the very simple guidelines, the sooner life will “go back to normal” (whatever that means). I am beyond exhausted of these grown adults completely ignoring what has surely become a life and death matter. I have family and friends literally around the world and I can tell you that this virus is absolutely real and I absolutely deadly. My mother lives in Miami and has seen the numbers spike so many times because people think it’s perfectly safe to party at the beach. (It isn’t).
So, as a band parent, I can also say with 100% confidence that our amazing band director, Mr. Smith, has been implementing these rules and using caution during every pick up, drop off, practice and performance. The families, however, not so much. I’m very disappointed in how our community, one that claims to care so much about its residents, has used careless judgement and total lack of empathy regarding these very real dangers that lurk undetected.
Please, for the love of our heroes and our children- wear a damn mask.
