The Easley High School Green Wave Marching Band was in full uniforms performing during halftime of the Easley-Wren football game. Supporters say the band should be in contention for the state title this year. Easley’s first competition will be Saturday at Pendleton.
Dr. Henry Hunt confirmed that Charles Hamlett will return for the 2010-2011 school year. But some parents and students are happy with the job current director Patrick Mainieri is doing and want him to stay in the position.
Several spoke out at Monday night’s school board meeting, telling the board what a good job Mainieri has done since he took charge of the band.
Will Hillegeist, who graduated from EHS in 2009, said the band program had grown under Manary’s direction, and he asked that the board keep the students’ best interest in mind by keeping him on as band director.
“Don’t ignore the strides made in the past two years,” he said.
Hillegeist’s mother Pam Hillegeist also spoke on Mainieri’s behalf.
“I’m not here to badmouth anybody on staff, but the students need stability,” she said.
Student Abbey Thompson spoke of Mainieri’s character and his dedication to his students and the band program.
“You say you want to do what’s best for the students, but I find that hard to believe if you’re willing to disrupt or throw away what Patrick Mainieri has built over the past few years,” she said.
But board chairman Jim Shelton pointed out that in bringing Hamlett back to the position, the school district is following laws regarding military service of state employees.
Shelton said the board had to make a tough decision and that Mainieri’s efforts were not ignored.
Board member Alex Saitta, who represents the Pickens area, also said the board did not ignore the parents’ and students’ concerns when making the decision to bring Hamlet back as director next year.
But he said that according to federal law, when an employee goes away to serve in the military, they must be re-employed in “the escalator position or a position of like seniority, status and pay.”
Saitta said bringing Hamlett back as director of another school in the district would have been considered a drop in status, so the board had no choice.
“The law was pretty clear to us,” he said. “We’re very sympathetic to all you had to say, and there was a lot of relevance to what you had to say, but according to the law, it is irrelevant.”
First off, anyone who either volunteers for military service and is sent off to basic training and then advanced training OR someone who is in the reserves/National Guard and is called up is not able to 'double dip'. The actual situation differs depending on if the member of the military is employed in the private or public sector.
As a state employee, a public school teacher falls under 'South Carolina Code of Laws' Section 8-7-90 (available at http://www.jobs.sc.gov/OHR/employee/military_leave_provisions.pdf).
You can go and read that for yourself.
If this sort of allegation is any example of the type of ill-informed jabs being thrown around in a situation that has, by all appearances, become so full of drama and histrionics so as to be funny if it weren't so pitiful, then it's no wonder there's so much confusion.
Never forget that this is, in the end, a question dealing with a high school band program. In an era where thousands of people are living, fighting, and dying in harsh conditions so that you can have the protected privilege of 'competing' for a plastic trophy on Saturdays, there are certainly better ways to spend your time and efforts....and if this is any indication of how Easley supports the valiant men and women who 'dare' to offer such protective services, then I'm embarrassed I can even find it on a map, more or less having once called it home.
and not trying to be rude but before calling two people out for what they've said you may want to make sure that you are talking about the right person. Ehsalumni is not the daughter of ehsparent.
Your statements do not express very good leadership skills or RESPECT. You are failing to take into consideration the feelings of the students this currently effects. I am sorry you are one of very FEW who may have a problem with Mr. Maineri. Mr. Maineri has always shown me the greatest respect. Unlike Mr. Hamlett, he knows the names of ALL his students and their parents. This to me in it's self shows his respect for the studnets and their parents. I witnessed what happened at the game and what you stated isn't exactly the way it happened. Luckily the child turned out to be fine. Hopefully you were at Saturday's Competition to see the Maineri lead band accomplish a 1st place 4A victory and win overall Grand Champions...no matter how you look at it or who's side you are on ...Easley Band is winning! That is the result of hard work and dedication by the students an Maineri. Right now the students are happy, working hard, and accomplishing thier goals... I say if it isn't broken... don't fix it. Would Easley remove a Football Coach who was winning every game? I doubt it.
During the time I was at Easley I had 3 band directors. It was very sad when the first one left. It was hard and took a long time to adjust. But no one ever thought that this individual had “abandoned the students” or that he “didn’t care about our band program.” We all knew that change is a part of life. It happens and then you move on. Believe it or not, there IS more to life than band. I learned this very less from Mr. Hamlett.
Yes, band is supposed to be fun. But it’s more than that, you learn life lessons. Mr. Hamlett taught me things through band that I use every single day. Those lessons of hard work, determination, and the most important (and from observation, the one that seems to be completely non-existent now) RESPECT.
During the time I was at Easley I had 3 band directors. It was very sad when the first one left. It was hard and took a long time to adjust. But no one ever thought that this individual had “abandoned the students” or that he “didn’t care about our band program.” We all knew that change is a part of life. It happens and then you move on. Believe it or not, there IS more to life than band. I learned this very less from Mr. Hamlett.
Yes, band is supposed to be fun. But it’s more than that, you learn life lessons. Mr. Hamlett taught me things through band that I use every single day. Those lessons of hard work, determination, and the most important (and from observation, the one that seems to be completely non-existent now) RESPECT.
While this situation is small and miniscule in the eyes of the school board, it affects more than 200 current students, parents, and alumni, alike. Having conversations with fellow alumni, their concern is about the students. The large majority want Hamlett to be out for good, as Mainieri has revamped and changed the band program for the greater good. Personally, I agree. My first two years of high school were under the direction of Chuck Hamlett. While I was only in a second semester ensemble, we were highly neglected and that aspect of the band program was in a very decrepit state. As my last two years were under the direction of Mainieri, that ensemble was revived and began the slow process of building confident, and powerful musicians in that particular style. Not only were we good musicians, Mr. Mainieri taught us many things about life, he truly cared about us. Which is more than I can say about the previous mentioned band director. I don't want to rant and rave about how I, personally, think this situation should be handled. In fact, going away to college was one of the best choices I ever made. It makes me remember how corrupt a local government can be and then that same government not understand why the education system is suffering. Well, people, I think this answers your question. I have high respect for the school board members, they make very heavy decisions. But if a school board member completely disregards the people they represent without anything more than an, "I'm sorry." This becomes a board of personally driven, selfish men and women who can only think of personal gain. And you know what people? YOU VOTED FOR THEM! Welcome to democracy. Welcome to tyranny, as well. This is called misrepresentation. Where does misrepresentation get us? Let's look at history: Revolutionary War, Civil War. I could go on, but I want to stress the fact. As southerners we were taught to make our voice heard. So let's make our voice heard. Peacefully and like RESPONSIBLE adults. Remember your voice.