John Gardner

19 yrs experience as a high school band director. 14 yrs as college adjunct faculty. 30+ yrs in the fundraising industry and 24 yrs as a small business owner. (Don't add all those up.). Experience in both the fundraising sales and education worlds give me a unique combination of perspectives in both. I love working with the youthful enthusiasm of today's teenage achievers and with those who work with them. Also 6yrs as proprietor of VirtualMusicOffice.com, which offers a wide variety of virtual services including web/blog design/hosting/managing, social media management (scheduling posts/tweets for maximum impact and brand enhancement) and small business consulting - specializing in school product fundraising.

Are public schools receiving less in Indiana due to SB1

College Prep, Family, High Schools, News and Happenings, Personal experience, Social Media, Teaching /
With all the publicity of public schools receiving less due to Indiana SB1, I started doing a non-scientific comparison between 2000 (one of my sons graduated in 1999 and the other in 2001) and current. Some lists show current as 2023, 2024 or projected 2025. I did not cite each of these numbers as they come from multiple sources and, in some cases, sources differ on exact numbers. ALSO, I emailed questions to my state Representative and state Senator. I have heard back from one of them. Once I hear from both, I’ll share.
Originally for my own information, I compared some of the local and state data I was finding with the near west-coast school (K-12) my grandkids attend (I will refer to as Private School A) and an east-coast boarding school (9-12) where one of my sons is a teacher, coach and admin (Private School B).

No fancy graphs or editorials ….just FYI. Some numbers don’t seem to “add up”, so feel free to note or correct discrepancies.

HUNTINGTON COUNTY POPULATION

2000 – 38079
2023 – 36781
Decrease 1298 or 3.4%

HCCSC

2000 – 6548 students
2025 – 4916 students
Decrease of 1632 or 25%

HNHS POPULATION

2000 – @2000 students
2025 – @1400 students
Decrease of 600 or 30%
Size of administration increases (?) – below

SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN HUNTINGTON COUNTY

2000 – 8885 (6548 in HCCSC = 73%)
2025 – 8000 (4916 in HCCSC = 61%)
Decrease in student population 885
Decrease in HCCSC participation 1632 or 12%
According to HCCSC published material, 15% of students within our boundaries (@1200) choose alternate options. This compares favorably with other systems in our area. Alternate options would be schools outside our boundaries, online education, home schooling, private schools inside or outside our boundaries, and others.
Class Size 15:1 – favorable, comparable to most data I found in a variety of school types
Govt money per student = $9876 x 4916 (student population) = $48,550,416

GRADUATION

2021 – 471 students
2024 – 307 students
Decrease of 164 graduates
HN Graduation 89%. State average – 88%
Private School A – no data.
Private School B – “nearly 100%”

SAT SCORES

HNHS – 1140 (better than national and state averages)
National – 1040
Indiana – 971
Private School A – 1270 (1081 state avg)
Private School B – 1446 (1112 state avg)
Duke University & UPenn (Son #2 attended) – 1550 & 1540
IU – 1310
Purdue – 1330
Notre Dame – 1500
Ball State – 1177
PFW – 1080

HUNTINGTON NORTH HIGH SCHOOL

1 – Principal
4 – Assistant Principals
1 – Dean
1 – Athletic Director
1 – CTE (Career & Technical Education) Director
5 – Guidance Counselors
? – Administrative Assistants (one source said 9)
1 – Resource Officer (Total of 3? in the corporation)

HCCSC ADMINISTRATION (aka Corporation Office)

OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT
Superintendent
Executive Secretary
CFO
COO
INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES
Director of Elementary Education
Director of Secondary Education
Administrative Assistant for Secondary Education
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Assistant to Executive Secretary / Receptionist
Deputy Treasurer & Grants Specialist
Corporation Treasurer
Accounts Payable / Receivable
Payroll Specialist
HUMAN RESOURCES
Director of Human Resources, Payroll / Human Resources
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Principal High Ability Coordinator
Professional Development Coordinator
Assistant Principal Professional Development Coordinator
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Director of Special Education
Assistant Director of Special Education
Administrative Assistant for Special Education
Interpreter
2 – Speech Language Pathologist
Occupational Therapist
Early Childhood Coordinator
Consulting Teacher for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
Director of Marketing & Communications

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Air Tags and Find Me: A Personal Experience

Personal experience /

A mildly disappointing purchase, but a net positive. (Details in the pic captions).

When you move as slowly as I do and discover as you’re stepping into the detached garage car that you don’t have your keys, it can cause a moderate delay.

Joan has been traveling frequently. The only way I know how she is doing on the road is when she turns the car off and the State Farm Drive App registers where she stopped, not progress in real-time.

We took advantage of a sale price to order Air Tags for my keys and Joan.

When we set them up, we discovered that the “Find Me” app we already had would do most of what we wanted, with the correct settings.

The disappointment is that, for my keys, it doesn’t tell me whether they are in the Living Room or the Kitchen….just that they are at this address. Well, duh.

In contrast, and what I thought we were getting, is the find-me part of my hearing aids. I see where they are in relation to my phone and not only that they are at this address but also what part of the house they are in. If I hold the phone closer to one of them, that location changes to “very near.” I wanted that for my keys.

 

Still, it is good to have them. Actually, I bought a 4-pack. If you have Air Tags, where else (besides your dog’s collar) do you use them?

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The Beast at Daytona

News and Happenings, Personal experience, Teaching /
A few years ago, I made a post expressing pride in the success of many of the students from my first teaching position in a small rural school in southern Indiana. I think I said something about being humbled to have been (maybe) a small part of their success.
Cadillac at Daytona 500 Trump at Daytona
I got a really nice note from one of those students who shared a story about something he learned from me that has influenced his life lessons in management. He is now a Senior VP at General Motors.
He posted pics from celebrating the Cadillac racecar … and also the Cadillac Beast, which took a couple laps. I’m including a video (not from him) that shows the lap. Part is boring, but you can hear crowd noise, see two flyovers and how the racecars lined up behind The Beast (and the SS entourage, of course).
Great publicity.

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Changing to Gulf of America is expensive

Communication, Respect, Social Media, Social Media /
Pres Trump announcing the name change to Gulf of America while flying over the Gulf.

I just read and responded to a post about the “cost” ($1+B, according to the writer) for changing the name to Gulf of America. This isn’t meant to be a complete argument, but tell me where I’m wrong (or right)…… kindly, please.

* “Gulf of Mexico” first appeared on maps in 1550. The USA didn’t exist.
* Renamed to Gulf of “America”, NOT “of USA”.
* Mexico is considered to be a country in “North America”. So, appropriate and not a slam against another country.
* 67 million people in USA in states touched by the gulf, vs 16 million in Mexico.
* 5 US States touched by the gulf.
I could have lived with “Mexico”, but feel your argument is based solely on WHO made the change. For example(s)…..

MILITARY BASE NAME CHANGES IN 2023

Fort Barfoot, VA (formerly Fort Pickett) was renamed March 24, 2023
Fort Novosel, AL(formerly Fort Rucker) was renamed April 10, 2023.
Fort Gregg-Adams, VA (formerly Fort Lee) was renamed April 27, 2023.
Fort Cavazos, TX (formerly Fort Hood) was renamed May 9, 2023.
Fort Moore, GA (formerly Fort Benning) was renamed May 11, 2023.
Fort Liberty, NC (formerly Fort Bragg) was renamed June 2, 2023.
Fort Johnson, LA (formerly Fort Polk) was renamed June 13, 2023.
Fort Walker, VA (formerly Fort A.P. Hill) was renamed August 28, 2023.

We (taxpayers) pay every time someone moves in/out of the White House or any office in Congress. We pay to duplicate Air Force One, fly triplicate helicopters and duplicate Beasts.

We changed maps, globes and textbooks when the Berlin Wall came down or the U.S.S.R. fell apart.
With this cost-to-change argument, we could never replace a school, update highways, move airports (Indy) or anything of the such.
What say YOU?

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Response to a friend supporting DEI

Respect, Social Media /
Several programs that have come/gone in my lifetime had noble ideas and, at least in theory, attempted to make the world a better place. We needed something like “AFFIRMATIVE ACTION”, but when my white son working toward a PhD in African-American Literature is told by his Ivy League university that he will not be placed until after every non-white person is placed…. that is discrimination in reverse and just as wrong.
My Fire Chief father was told to hire people of color. When he said he hired from those who passed the tests, he was instructed to re-write the tests — twice. He eventually DID hire the first black (who became a life-long friend). He told me about their first interaction after the hire and I wrote about that in my book … perhaps I’ll share that in a different post, because it taught ME a life lesson.
Dad was also ordered to hire the first woman firefighter for his mid-sized city department. His focus was on ensuring that those he sent into burning buildings understood how fire worked and/or could carry an unconscious person out of the building or down the ladder. That is merit-based hiring, right?
Merit-based hiring vs. affirmative action hiring in professional sports is also interesting, but a topic for another day.
“NO “CHILD LEFT BEHIND” sounded great, until the emphasis on standardized testing rewarded teaching to the test…. Before I retired as a hs teacher, to keep my job, get top evaluations and receive pay increases, I had to prove that every student learned something. The way to do that was to give a really difficult starting test, teach to that test and show a better score at the end of the semester. My argument that a concert in front of an audience was proof of learning was unacceptable. So, I would use tests on rhythms and definitions that would show individual scores. A student shouted out in class, “We need to do poorly on this one.” They understood the game. We still did concerts.
Who remembers “CORE-40”? Or “WEIGHTED GRADES”? We lost students from the music programs because an advanced biology class would count more for a GPA, an Academic Honors Diploma or Valedictorian status (which is being done away with in many schools). So many diplomas. A current proposal in this state is to return to one basic diploma with “seals” for extra qualifications.
The core words of DEI are good. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are all good things. My polio-surviving mother got her job without it, however. I would support it until we start hammering that students in elementary schools are either oppressors or oppressed, or that we can’t hire or promote a better qualified white male until we have equaled the numbers.
We should not overreact to every mention of a program, but some kind of adjustment is needed. Not to worry; there will be a new program coming at us.

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Be a Gold digger.

Assistant Directing, College Prep, High Schools, Music Performance, News and Happenings, Solo Prep, Teaching, Teaching Music /

Solo/Ensemble season is here. Vocal is local and starts tomorrow. Instrumental for local musicians starts next Saturday. If you get District GOLD, you qualify for STATE.

Every participant is a winner. What other activity (maybe shooting free throws in a ball game) requires someone to stand in front of a person with the job of (usually) finding their every mistake?

Be GOLD diggers.

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Solo Judges Sheet from 53 years ago – The Story

Leave a Comment / High Schools, Music Performance, Personal experience, Solo Prep, Storytelling, Teaching, Teaching Music /

Allow me to share the story behind the performance and the rating from this 53-yr old piece of falling-apart paper.


Throughout high school, Robert Roden was my clarinet teacher. I was the first chair clarinet at Holmes HS in Covington, KY. He also taught the first chair clarinet student from Simon Kenton (where he was Band Director) and at Campbell County HS. We were all in the same grade and had been competing with each other throughout high school when it came to District and All State ensembles.

For Solo Contest senior year HE GAVE ALL THREE OF US THE SAME SOLO!

It was a crazy difficult Theme and Variations on “Au Clair de la Lune”.

It created quite a stir as it became a bragging rights contest between the three bands.

When the schedule came out, I was third to go.

Pressure.

The first girl went – got a “I” (Superior) Rating. The room was fairly full with mostly students from her school.

More pressure.

The second girl went – got a “I” (Superior) Rating. Again, the room was fairly full.

Pressure cooker.

When I went, there were students from all three schools who couldn’t even all get into the room.

The piece is structured with a theme, piano interlude, variation, interlude, variation, etc.

The judge was Earl Thomas, clarinet professor at Eastern Kentucky University. He knew me well as I had studied with him four summers at the Stephen Collins Foster Music Camp at EKU.

As I am ready to begin, Thomas says,

Mr. Gardner, I don’t think I have ever heard this piece performed at the high school level and this is the third time I am hearing it today.

(I explain we three had the same teacher).

Well sir, since I have already heard this piece twice, can we just cut out the piano interludes? Just play each section, pause, and go on to the next.

For those who know me, I hope you would agree that my biggest strength is technique while my biggest challenges are endurance (and nerves). I could play fast, but I really needed those breaks. GONE.

I got so worried about losing the interlude breaks that I forgot to get nervous about performing….. I always wondered if, knowing me, he did that on purpose just to see how I’d respond.

At the end of my performance, HE STOOD UP FOR ME …. and then gave me the highest rating of the three. Yay!

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3 Scholarship Strategies That Worked for Me and Mine

1 Comment / College Prep, High Schools, Parenting, Repost, Teaching /

By John Gardner

Dollar SignIt used to be that “March Madness” meant more than just basketball. The school would emphasize the mostly local scholarships that would be awarded and presented on “Achievement Night” toward the end of the school year. There is still a push in mid-spring, but the last I knew, the local Guidance Department now organizes scholarships by application due date and there is clearly a newer emphasis on working at the scholarship process throughout the (mostly) senior year.

As a high school teacher, I encouraged students to go after all the scholarships available and too often hear responses like…

As a high school teacher, too often I hear variations of…..

“Everybody applies for that one.”“I don’t have the highest grades,
so what’s the point?”“I’ll fill it out,
but I’m not going to spend
a lot of time on it.”

The PURPOSE of this post is to ENCOURAGE students (and parents) to implement 3 strategies as you go through “scholarship season”.

STRATEGY #1: Work harder and smarter. COMPETE to BEAT the competition.

My son was applying for a “Fellowship” at an Ivey League Grad School, where he completed his PhD. A fellowship is similar to a ‘scholarship’ with generally bigger dollars. A fellowship is usually more like funding for a job. It would pay for a semester of teaching two Penn classes and a semester of research for his dissertation.

“The fellowship’s description clearly favored someone with 1 yr less experience than me. Knowing that, all things being equal, the fellowship would go to someone else, I determined to make sure things were not equal.

I devoted an entire week toward preparing my application. I knew few would spend that much time or commit that level of energy. Apparently it worked as they went outside their target group to pick me.”

Halfway through his undergrad experience, he won a $32,000 scholarship for college expenses, including travel to potential grad schools.

Compete confidently.

STRATEGY #2: FILL OUT EVERY SCHOLARSHIP THAT DOES NOT SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDE YOU

In high school, he won a scholarship from the local ABWA (Women’s Association), whose literature said they give “preference” to a girl, but did not exclude guys. Also a $4000 from a Catholic organization even though he is not Catholic.

“I read the criteria for every scholarship.
If not specifically excluded, I applied.

There was a time during Spring Semester of high school senior year that our living room had numerous ‘stacks’ representing different scholarships. His attitude that scholarship season was that it was his ‘part-time job’ and he intended to make more money doing that than he would have made at a fast food restaurant job. He did.

Make scholarships worth your time and effort.

STRATEGY #3: SEARCH them out and TAKE THEM SERIOUSLY

There is money out there. Part of the battle is finding it. Your high school Guidance Department probably has a listing.

Scholarship providers are looking for LOTS of things, and grades are not always at the top of the list. They want achievers. Extracurricular involvement and community service indicate that you are a responsible person. Good reference letters from teachers are valuable. Hopefully you have cultivated and earned strong teacher advocates. Sometimes financial need is a factor. Memorial scholarships often focus on students pursuing particular majors.

Read about
How to get Good Reference Letters

Demographics can matter. There have been at least three people from our local high school accepted to a particular top-tier university in recent years. This school tends to attract students from wealthy east coast boarding schools — and from overseas…..but in trying to change that reputation/perception, some local students benefited. For example, they wanted to increase the percentage of white, public school mid-westerners in their “community”. Sometimes engineering schools want more girls while education departments may want more guys. As you write essays and complete applications, focus on and market your strengths. You are, after all, asking for someone to “buy you”. Why should they?

Going after scholarships can feel like the ice skater learning how to do the quad. They fall down and get hurt a lot before you see them nail it on TV. Go for the good scholarships. Go for all you can. Go hard. And don’t give up.

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Personal Philosophy / Rationale Statement for Teaching

Leave a Comment / Classroom Teacher, Personal experience, Teaching Music /

My decision to become a band director came during the Morehead State University Band Clinic during my 7th grade year. I purchased my first baton at the clinic. I was primarily influenced by three of my teachers.

James Copenhaver (Dr. Copenhaver, 34-yr Director of Bands at the University of South Carolina) was my beginning teacher during my first year (and his first year of teaching) and high school band director for two years. I wanted to be just like him. He pulled me aside Freshman year and said something like….

If you want to be a band director, you’re going to have to go to college. Your family may not be able to afford that…so I suggest you use your four years in high school to make yourself good enough that by the time you graduate, colleges will want to pay you to come.

They did.

Robert Roden taught me how to play clarinet during my high school years. I never heard him play (heart condition), but he had a good way of describing what I should do to play well. At my band director’s urging, he allowed me to “audition” for a spot in his studio. After hearing me, he made me a deal…

“You play well. I can help you get better. But you can’t afford me. As it turns out, I have a bad heart and can’t do yard work or heavy lifting. So, if you would be willing to cut my grass or shovel my snow, or do any other jobs around my house as needed, then I will provide you clarinet lessons until the day you show up here unprepared. Do we have a deal?”

Yes. And he kept his word. Senior year I received a “I+” (not a legal ranking) at solo festival, was 1st chair in All-State, 1st chair in an Honor Band (top spot in the top band out of six at the clinic), 1st chair at two summer music camps, and 1st chair in the United States Collegiate Wind Band that toured Europe and the U.S.S.R.

Tragically, he died in a fire at a dinner club where he was playing. He got out of the building, but went back in to get his music. My father was an off-duty Fire Chief on the scene.

The third person was my college clarinet professor. He was a terrible human, hated teaching girls, hated teaching clarinet (wanted to be orchestra director)…..but set his standards high and used fear, intimidation, and humiliation to force improvement. At least he taught me how to prepare.

My musical career from 5th grade through college was about performance and competition. My first teaching assignment was a small rural school (I had gone to a large inner-city high school) was a shocking experience for me. When I would encourage a parent to provide for private instruction, I was told that I was the teacher. When recommending a step-up instrument, I was asked what was wrong with the one they bought. Since there were limited resources, I refocused on the concept of teaching students how to achieve success. In 2005, when I had an opportunity to meet with a group of former students, not a single one had gone into music as a vocation, but all had children in band because of the positive experience they had. I felt reinforced. Because of the way the bar had been set for me, I set the bar high there, expected them to reach it – and most did. As a group, they achieved much success, reaching 4th in state in two of my four years with over 20% of the high school in the ensemble.  

Now, back in education after two decades away (which means I’ve missed all the current training over that time), I describe myself as the old guy with youthful enthusiasm. I would have to label myself a social efficiency-ist, which I realize sets me in confrontation with a lot of current teaching and training. I’ll try to keep an open mind.

Here are some statements I put in a brochure I send to parents of potential private instruction students. I call them my Gardner-isms:

Good Grades Do Pay – and I can prove it.

Colleges Pay for those who Play – well!

It doesn’t matter whether you win or lose — until you lose.

If the notes are on the paper, it is your job to play ALL of them.

If you’re going to play it, you might as well play it right.

The view from 1st chair is much better.

Private Lessons can be like paying for college — one week at a time.

Be prepared: Make sure your parents are getting their money’s worth.

Santa isn’t the only one who knows whether you’ve been bad (no practice) or good.

You can’t sight read in your lesson and get away with it. I’m better than that.

Like the ice skater who misses the quad, missing notes in public can hurt.

Anybody can be mediocre.  Not you. Not with me. Don’t even think about it.

You can practice hard now and have fun at performance, or you can have fun now…

Do you really want to pay me to tell you it was good — if it wasn’t?

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