Franklin Music Boosters Group Sues Baltimore County Board of Education Over Marching Band

Facing the possibility of not having a marching band for the second straight year, the Franklin High School Music Boosters has filed a lawsuit against the Baltimore County Board of Education and Superintendent Joe Hairston.

The suit claims that an agreement between Baltimore County Public Schools and Baltimore County Recreation and Parks not only violates a state statute, but effectively prevents the marching band from practicing. By not allowing the marching band to practice at ideal times and giving recreation and parks priority on the field, the school is forced to cancel the marching band program, the suit says.

“This joint agreement ... is essentially being used to kick marching bands off their own fields,” said Warren Hack, president and founder of the Franklin High School Music Boosters Association. The association is a group of parents of Franklin students involved in the school’s music programs and it aims to promote and support the music department. Franklin staff members and music teachers are not involved in the civil suit.

The agreement, titled “joint use of high school stadiums,” which was signed on July, 15, 2009, prioritized different uses of school stadiums. The agreement has no mention of marching bands but does include local recreation council regular season games, recreation leagues regular season games and recreation program practice.

The suit claims this is in violation of a subsection of a state law titled “use of school property for other than school purposes – in general,” which says “school facilities may be used only at times that will not interfere with regular school sessions or other bona fide school activities.” Baltimore County School Policy 1300 also states that community use of schools is encouraged when it does not interfere with school programs. A county schools spokesperson unaware of the suit was not able to comment on Tuesday, Aug. 23.

A hearing on all open motions is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 26, at 9:30 a.m. in Baltimore County Circuit Court, but lawyers are having a teleconference today, Wednesday, Aug. 24, to see if they can settle out of court, Hack said.

“We’re hoping to come to as amicable as an agreement as possible with the administration to avoid going through with the lawsuit,” he said. “Both sides, the administration and the boosters, agreed that this whole problem at Franklin has been actually exacerbated and somewhat created by the local rec and parks council by pushing the bounds of this joint use agreement.”

The complaint, filed on April 27, 2011, states that the school’s marching band program was canceled in August 2010 after the school was denied use of the field for evening practices because it conflicted with county rec and parks programs.

The issue came up in fall 2009, but rec and parks allowed Franklin one night a week to use the field for marching band practice. That agreement was not renewed in fall 2010. Instead, the marching band was allotted time in between varsity practice and rec and parks programs.

“Nobody showed up because it was an unworkable situation,” Hack said. He said that students who went home couldn’t get back to school in time after dinner and evening plans. The marching band was allotted 5-6:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, and 5-6 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

“As a direct consequence of the priority given to the Department of Recreation and Parks to use the school facilities at Franklin High School for non-school recreational activities, Franklin High School canceled the school marching band program,” the complaint says.

The students missed opportunities to march in the Reisterstown Festival Parade and perform a halftime show at M&T Bank Stadium when Franklin’s football team played in the 2010 high school division championship game.

Hack is optimistic about today’s teleconference said he hopes the school can get back to its marching band program, which he said has tremendous interest among students this year.

“We’re hoping to basically bury the hatchet, if at all possible, and then let the music department focus on the kids,” he said.