Central, South Bands Under Football's 'Thumb': Official

HINSDALE, IL – Marching band students at Hinsdale Central and South high schools are poised to benefit from a new policy that exempts them from taking physical education for at least an entire semester.

Now, they are only allowed to get the exception during football season.

In recent months, parents and students have blamed the rule for a drop in marching band participation. That decrease is believed to be the reason for the proposal to reduce a popular Central band teacher to part-time status.

On Thursday, the school board voted unanimously to change the policy. That paves the way for marching band students to get the exemption.

This decision was despite the opposition of Superintendent Michael Lach, who suggested it wasn't in the best interest of students.

Board member Bobby Fischer was among those speaking out for the change. He said the marching band has responsibilities outside the football season.

"Semantically putting our music programs under the thumb of our football program in this way does devalue our music programs," he said.

He called the 2021 policy change a bad decision.

"We're fixing it," he said.

Member Baron Leacock said changing the policy was an "easy win."

"I was a band kid," he said, adding that he couldn't imagine "jumping in and out" of PE over a semester.

Lach repeated his objections to the policy change from an April board meeting.

"I think PE is important. I think fitness is important," the superintendent said. "I'm super concerned about the mental health of our kids and the pressure they are under."

He said the district should consider the possible effects of "opening things up" for students to take a greater number of rigorous courses.

"For some kids, that's great. For other kids, they're going to feel pressure to do that, so that's going to be problematic," Lach said.

He suggested the district conduct a full analysis of the music program before making the change.

Now that the board has adopted the new policy, the superintendent must enact procedures to carry it out, board members said. It was suggested at one point in the discussion that the policy may not take effect until 2026.