Chad Scharff has been the band director for both the high school and middle school bands in Lexington for the last 28 years. Earlier this year, the Tyson plant in Lexington closed. It previously employed roughly one-third of the town’s population. Scharff interviewed with The Antelope over Zoom to discuss how he thought the plant closing would affect the music program in Lexington.
Can you tell me about some of the initial reactions to the changes when you heard about the plant closing? How did you learn about the plant closing?
It was back in November. We were at the Nebraska Music Educators Convention in Lincoln, and we were sitting around talking about plans for this year and things we were going to do, and I got a text from my wife, and she said that it showed me this letter that was written to the employees of Tyson talking about the closure of the plant. And I read it, and I was just shocked. I said, “This isn’t a joke, is it?” All of a sudden, we started hearing things, and it started to get worse and worse. And then, of course, we figured out it was real.
We got an email from the administration letting us know that that’s what was going down, what was happening. And of course, we were just really shocked about what was going to happen and what (was going to happen) to our kids and things like that.
Were you the one that had to tell them about it? Or did they learn about it on their own?
Well, no, they found out from all their parents. The Tyson company let everybody know, I think it was 2:30 in the afternoon when they sent the letters out. So I’m sure the kids found out from their parents when they got home from school that day at 3:30 p.m. So we had a little bit of time as a staff to kind of prepare, and then we talked to the kids.
On Monday, there was a statement that was released by the administration, and we read it in class. Then we talked about it, but we didn’t rehearse that day. We just kind of talked to the kids and just tried to feel it out a little bit.
What was it like for some of the kids who were affected by the change at the plant?
There was some sadness. There was a few tears, not very many, but a lot of the kids were just kind of in shock. It’s been announced that this is going to happen, and there’s a big change, but nothing has happened yet. You just don’t know. At the time, they thought maybe they’ll just close for a little bit and then reopen.
We still don’t know. No one’s letting us know anything about what’s happening, but it was just kind of quiet. I guess it was probably a few more weeks after that when we figured it out. And it was really when, I want to say January 20th, that’s when we really noticed it because they actually did close the plant and, you know, parents went home and stuff like that.
It’s just been tough. You know, sometimes you’ll look out at kids when you’re rehearsing, and some of them seem a little distant or they’re just not focused on what they normally are focused on, because they’ve got a lot of other things going on in their lives.
You said before that you won’t really know what’s going to happen until this summer. Why not until this summer?
Well, even if the parents know that they’re going to move, I’m not even sure some of them do know. If they decide they are going to leave, they don’t want to pull their kids out of school. They want to finish. We’ve got a lot of seniors that want to graduate. Juniors and kids are involved in soccer, track and all sorts of other activities as well as their education. They want to stay as long as they can, but they’re not trying to pull the kids out of school unless both parents have to leave.
I know we’ve had some parents that have taken jobs in Grand Island. There’s some in North Platte. We picked up a lot in Kearney. There’s some in Holdridge. So, the surrounding area has picked up a lot. I’m assuming that a lot of those kiddos will probably stay here, and parents will just commute, but who knows.
How big is the Lexington music program?
We were just under 250 students in the high school band this year, 247 with the marching band. That comes down a little bit, once we lose the color guard members after the fall. But we’re still right around 200-210. We’re just right around 700-750 kids in the program, five through 12.
How much do you think that the program is going to shrink in the future?
Yeah, we know that it’s going to get smaller. We just don’t know much. I think right now we’ve lost around maybe seven to nine students. I don’t know the actual number to that, but we’ve also gained a few too. They moved in just because they were close, and there was some more housing that had become available.
What are you planning to do to handle the future change in size?
We’re still going to be able to continue to do what our plans are with marching band. We just don’t know the numbers. The biggest thing is going to be probably when drill comes around for marching band, whether or not we’re going to have as many people. We’ve got a great drill writer. We were actually at convention when this happened, and he came up to me and said, “Man, I’m really sorry. You know, we’re going to work with you. We’ll do whatever we can.” So, that’s a good thing. As far as instrumentation goes, if we dropped to 150 in the high school band, that’s still a big band. The only thing that we’d have to deal with is if you’ve got like 70 clarinets and five trumpets, then you’re going to be in trouble. I doubt that happens, but that’s not the big issue.
The big issue is whether or not our kids are going to be able to continue on with other band programs and other schools that they may go to, or just whether they’re going to be OK with having to change locations and up in their lives from what they’re used to, from what they’re having daily. I’m more concerned about the kids that are leaving than I am the ones that are going to be here. The ones that are going to stay will be just fine. We’ll be OK.
