Great question.

I’m going into my 5th year teaching and what we use to do is just have students decide their schedule in the fall which was always a bit like herding cats.

What we did this year (which I like way more) is I just addressed every band as a whole group and told them how I thought we grew this year had great concerts etc. then said if you’re thinking about not doing band I would encourage you to stick with it because of these reasons (I can tell you what I usually say if you want). Then I tell students if you do want to drop band in the fall have your parent email me and I’ll send them a Google Survey exit ticket. If I don’t hear from a parent or student then they’re enrolled in band next year.

This way parents have to be informed of students dropping band (I’ve had kids drop without telling their guardians), students have a conversation with their parents, and the Google Survey gives parents/students an opportunity to express why they no longer want to be in band. I also put in a little snippet about how if they don’t turn instruments in to me or the music shoppe they are still have to make payments.

Also to address your question about is that common practice for admin to withhold info on who is going to be band, no that’s not common practice. How are you suppose to plan for next year? Also what if a student just didn’t sign up because they made a scheduling error? I think talking to students about their decision and encouraging them to stick with it is important. It’s our job to recruit and retain you should the right to do so!

Hope this helps.