Printer Friendly Version - BHS Austria/Czech Trip is a "Go"

The BHS Concert Choir travels bi-annually to Europe, including a trip France in 2012, where they sang in the Notre Dame cathedral, conducted by BHS Music Director Cathyann Roding.Photo from www.encoretours.com

After a lengthy March 30 meeting where parents, students, school staff, and members of the Board of Education (BOE) discussed concerns and support, the April 8 to 16 central European performance tour of the Branford High School (BHS) choir remains a "go."

On the BHS Choir website on March 31, Music Director Cathyann Roding posted the news, saying, "Our trip was approved!" The BHS Concert choir will travel to Austria and the Czech Republic. The trip has been in the planning since last year and is arranged and managed with a professional tour company.

The high school group travels at time when concerns are heightened due to elevated alerts to terrorist activity in Europe and the March 22 explosions in an airport and metro station in Brussels, Belgium. The explosions, carried out by two suicide bombers, killed 31 and injured more than 300.

The BOE deliberated over plenty of input at the March 30 meeting before taking a majority vote in favor of allowing the trip to go on. The March 30 input included recommendations against making the trip from Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez and Branford High School Principal Lee Panagoulias. Hernandez told

The Sound their recommendations were made from the perspective of what would be the appropriate decision for their respective district roles. He added that prior to the BOE meeting March 30, earlier discussions and meetings took place among parents, students, and district leaders to provide ample discourse on the matter.

"I think we modeled for our students and adults that we make deliberate, thoughtful decisions, and it's okay to disagree and have different points of view," said Hernandez.

The group of approximately 100 is traveling as a student group with staff chaperones and a side-trip group of parents or other family members. The families will not be involved in the same activities as the student group (although they can attend performances). All of the travelers, like any taking a trip at this point in time, can likely expect delays as they travel, especially at airports, where security is being tightened globally.

Roding has taught choir at BHS for more than 30 years and has organized a bi-annual European performance student trip for decades. To date, the most controversial and news-making trip took place in 2010, when the BHS Choir tour of Italy experienced a delayed return due to atmospheric ash from an Icelandic volcano shutting down air travel lanes. Students were flown home in waves. Some students remained in Italy up to eight additional days. Support from the community and local organizations helped the group cover costs for the unexpected delay.