It’s getting harder and harder every year for Runge High School to field a band, according to several administrators and the band director at the school.

Scheduling conflicts in past years have made band a nearly impossible elective for Runge’s upper classmen, leaving mostly junior high and freshmen to fill out the band.

"In our situation, we are a small school and kids have to make a choice between athletics or band to fit it in their schedules," said Runge Director of Curriculum Joanne Villarreal.

Two years ago, English 3, which is a core subject that students are required to take before graduation, was scheduled at the same time as band practice. Last year, athletics was moved to the same time slot as band, forcing high school students to choose between either one.

This year, athletics still shares a time slot with ninth- through 12th-grade band, but seventh- and eighth-grade band have an entirely different class. That means junior-high grade kids will be practicing separately from high-school grade kids.

Somehow, they’re supposed to come together on game night Fridays, marching and playing songs at halftime.

"I have to figure out how we’re going to march because I don’t know when we’re going to practice," Runge Band Director Ray Grim said. "I’m not trying to be negative (but) I really don’t have an answer. We’re probably not going to do a whole lot of marching."

Villarreal said only about nine students in high school this year expressed an interest in band, while about 19 students in junior high had the same interest.

That leaves Runge’s band very young, and Grim spends a lot of his time trying to tone down the music for beginner skill levels.

Much isn’t likely to change until Runge’s enrollment levels go up. Sitting at about 300 total for the entire school grades pre-K through 12, Runge lacks the funding to hire additional staff.

More teachers means less multitasking by Runge’s current staff. Some teachers this year will be teaching two or three different subjects in several different grades.

Changing the time on an English course would affect the time on a math course, leaving not much room to rearrange.

"Band is an elective. The majority of our kids are in athletics. A huge number are in ag. So when you look at the four core subject plus all the other requirements that have to be met," Villarreal explained, "that’s what students are choosing — they’re choosing athletics and FFA."