Haux retiring after 30 years

The band director has been a foundational piece of Ritenour

SKYLAR POWERS Staff Reporter

Hadley Haux has been the band director for the Ritenour bands for 30 years, making him the longest tenured teacher in the building.

He has directed the Symphonic and Concert Bands, Marching Band, Jazz Band, and even teaches the piano courses. He has made quite an impact in tje community on all things music.

Even Hoech Middle Band director Clifford McDaniel has learned much from Haux.

“He is always there for me to bounce ideas off of for help with the Hoech bands,” McDaniel said.

Haux has these sorts of effects on many of his colleagues in the music department.

“From helping with student music programs, and showing me the ropes, to providing real opportunities to help me grow as an educator, I would not have been able to do my job effectively without Haux's guidance,” orchestra director Blake Hernton said.

Hernton, along with choir director Stephanie Ruggles are in their second and first years at the high school respectively. In addition to those two, Emma Kanerva is in her first year as the electronic guitar teacher, which means that when Haux retires, the entire music department will be within their first three years at Ritenour.

Haux tends to give many students great opportunities to grow as musicians within in the school and even in other settings.

Senior trumpet player Acacia Helton expressed immense gratitude for having Haux push her to take advantage of these opportunities.

“I am in the Northwinds, which is a band filled with people as close as others in the Ritenour community and people who drive at least three hours every Thursday night,” Helton said. detectors,” junior Cailan Wooten said. “Those cultivate a school's environment where students feel like they're under suspicion for not really doing anything wrong.”

Many students are feeling bittersweet about this drastic change on the program and are finding it hard to picture a band program without Haux.

“He has been there for so long that everyone is used to him. I feel like the change might drive people away from the band,” sophomore baritone player Kriss Davis said.

Having been the band director for this amount of time, Haux expressed uncertainty about what life is like outside of Ritenour.

“It’s been hard to wrap my head around the idea of not being Ritenour’s band director. It’s very much part of who I am,” Haux said.

Everyone in the building appreciates the impact Haux has had in everything, music or not, in the last 30 years.

“Thanks Haux for your service as a music educator, you will be very missed,” said Hernton.

Dr. Haywood understands those concerns, but believes that the implementation of these rules will ultimately benefit everyone in the school and increase relationships among staff and students.

“I actually think that we are creating structure that will allow us to build stronger relationships with students. Now there is an administrator and a SEL (social emotional learning) team member that greets every single student that comes through the door because we're actually doing those ID checks and eventually we will be doing some randomized wanding,” Haywood said.

Dr. Haywood acknowledged that while some may feel targeted by the individual policies, they are all intended for the greater good.

“With the clear backpacks, although I understand the need for personal privacy, schools are not personal property locations, so we are responsible for the masses. It very similar to if you go to a concert at a stadium, if you go to a sporting event, going to the airport or wherever you have large groups of people, often there are some levels of safety measures," Haywood said.

SAFETY- Continued from page 1 dislike the rules that are in place, I know it’s best for our community in the long run,” Williams said.

Teachers have seen other changes in safety protocols occur much more than compared to the students. Public safety measures have always existed, but have started to really expand over the last 25 years, and English teacher Louise Haar-Chapman believes that there are a variety of things that need to be addressed to prevent such harmful events.

“Ultimately, I wish we lived in a world where such security matters weren’t needed,” shared English teacher Louise Haar-Chapman, “Unfortunately, this is where we are, so we need to make sure we address these issues of anger, violence, and other mental health challenges our students face along with enforcing the policies we have.”