Reply To: Concert Attendance – Define "Sick"

[nafmeadmin]

Riding 70 minutes on a bus to a concert with an upset stomach sounds like a recipe for disaster. If the parent is generally supportive of the program, I would definitely give the student the benefit of the doubt. It doesn’t sound like anyone is trying to pull a fast one on you. Besides, pushing students to play when they are really sick doesn’t seem to be in anyone’s best interest. The student could get worse (consider a ruptured appendix at the performance) or spread germs to others. A sick student also probably won’t perform as well as usual, so forcing the student to play won’t necessarily make your group sound better, either.

There are some judgments that we just need to leave up to parents. It sounds like this is one of them.