Rule requiring participation in marching band upheld

On Board Online • August 20, 2012

By Aileen Abrams
Associate Counsel

A school district can require students to participate in an extracurricular activity as part of an elective course for academic credit, according to a decision by the commissioner of education.

In Appeal of Garifi, a high school student auditioned for and was accepted into concert band, a class for academic credit. The district required that students enrolled in concert band also participate in marching band, an extracurricular activity. The student did not wish to do so and, as a result, was excluded from concert band. He was permitted to participate in symphonic band, a different class, in which he would also be able to earn academic credit.

Following the student’s appeal to the principal and superintendent, the school board affirmed the determination to exclude the student from concert band on the ground that the student’s unwillingness to participate in marching band was not an acceptable ground for an exemption from that requirement.

The student appealed to the commissioner, claiming the co-requisite rule was unreasonable and an impermissible condition for enrollment in an academic course. 

In upholding the board’s decision, the commissioner noted that school boards enjoy broad authority to prescribe the course of study and the commissioner will not substitute his judgment for that of the board on curriculum matters unless there is evidence the board acted in an arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable manner. Additionally, school boards may impose reasonable conditions on a student’s participation in credit-bearing activities, like school band. Here, the commissioner credited the superintendent’s assertion that concert band is more accomplished and difficult than symphonic band, and marching band contributes to a student’s growth in musicianship and permits additional instructional time on the instrument each week.

Further, although the student refused to participate in marching band he was still afforded the chance to earn credit through symphonic band. Under these facts, the commissioner said, the marching band co-requisite was not arbitrary or unreasonable. 

Finally, although students had been excused from marching band in the past due to physical inability or participation for the fall semester in interscholastic athletics, the commissioner deemed the exemption for student athletes reasonable because they were required to participate in marching band in the spring and thus attain those benefits cited by the superintendent. Also, no exemption had ever been granted based solely on a student’s disinterest or unwillingness to participate.