Fran Kick

Joining me on the podcast today is Fran Kick. He is a renowned author and speaker who has spent time as a band director and in clinical psychology. Fran served on the leadership staff of the Music For All Summer Symposium last month, and that’s where we sat down to talk.

Here are the highlights with Fran Kick

02:07 Leadership training for students and parents

03:20 Bring a friend!

04:02 The one thing booster groups can do TODAY to improve: have every parent attend one school board meeting

05:50 The number one excuse parents use to get out of attending school board meetings

07:10 “Relentlessly positive:” persistence pays off

08:50 The difference between 90% in music versus 90% in an academic classroom

09:24 Leadership for volunteers: appreciation is the key

10:41 “When people feel appreciated, they’re willing to give more.”

11:18 The surprising source of many Music for All volunteers

12:30 The type of person Music for All attracts

13:25 Recruiting and retention of music students

14:05 How a music student is like French pastry

15:02 Time commitment: How much is too much?

16:11 The case for releasing the students from the band room occasionally

17:09 Music students and directors need to interact with the rest of the world

18:09 The band director who was reprimanded for “mobilizing” his parents to advocate

18:49 How to virtually guarantee buy-in from administrators

21:07 How to change the culture of a school and a community

21:21 Instead of a mic drop at the end, there’s a pen drop

Here’s the bit on the band director who was reprimanded for “mobilizing” his parents to advocate for the music program:

“Faced with the prospect that Parrott Middle School’s band would be eliminated for the coming school year, Harrin helped mobilize a group of supporters to speak during a Hernando County School Board meeting in May.... But Harrin’s efforts have landed him in some hot water with Hernando High principal Leechele Booker.

“After the May 6 board meeting, Booker gave Harrin, who served as the band director for both Hernando High and Parrott this past school year, a “letter of direction,” reprimanding him for his actions.

“‘This letter of direction is being given to you for assembling a group of students and parents from (Hernando) to attend a school board meeting with the sole purpose of voicing a complaint about the assumed demise of the band program at (Parrott),’ she wrote in a May 9 letter.

“In her letter, Booker wrote that Harrin failed to follow proper procedures for lodging a complaint.

“‘Please keep in mind that you have an obligation to make reasonable precautions to distinguish between your personal views and views that negatively represent (Hernando High),’ she said.

Read the full article here.

Here’s Fran at the 2011 Music for All Summer Symposium:

Thanks for bearing with me during my learning curve while I work to improve the audio quality. It bugs me, too!

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