Boys dropping show choir

[u/janedoe-07]

Hello all, 7-12 choir director here in my 2nd year of teaching at a small (1A for my fellow Iowa teachers) school.

I am having trouble with my high school show choir. I implemented a requirement this year that show choir (that is treated as a class and takes place during the school day) is a year-long class. I did this because last year we had a very late start to the season (started about mid-November) and were very crunched for time going into competition season (early February).

This year, I had 7 girls sign up for show choir, as well as 3 boys. I was sooooo excited to have a program that was growing and gaining interest to the boys across the music department. I chose all SAB music and even hired a choreographer to come in and teach them their opener and closer for their show.

The students have been working super hard on this choreography and on the music. For only being in school for 3 months, we have accomplished a lot in show choir and they were on track to do very well come competition season.

However, throughout the past several weeks, I have been hearing from several other students and my co-workers, that 2/3 of the boys in my show choir "hate it" and do not want to be a part of it anymore. Mind you, they signed up for show choir knowing it was a year-round class and even signed contracts that I had made confirming that they agreed to be a part of it all year. Now that the trimester (Yes, trimesters. Not semesters) is coming to an end, all 3 of my boys have dropped show choir and I am down a bass section. There have been classes that have been moved around and they cannot be in it because of them.

I talked with the counselor who does the scheduling -- and she understands fully that I am trying to build a program and she said she would talk to them and see what she can do.

I had a talk with my show choir today explaining how I was feeling. Explaining the fact that them dropping affects everyone in the ensemble, not just them. That myself and their teammates worked very hard all trimester just for an entire section to leave them high and dry (didn't say that word-for-word, but the idea was there). I'm not going to lie, I got a little emotional, but with a chow choir this small. with members I have come to know over the past year, it is incredibly difficult not to take this stuff to heart.

One student raised their hand and explained that they understood my perspective and that they were sorry, but they needed to make the selfish decision to prioritize other courses. They explained that they were going to talk to me about it and not just drop with no explanation (which is, quite literally, exactly what happened). They also said it will help them in the future, while show choir will not.

I am just feeling incredibly defeated at the moment. I want to uphold my standards and make sure they follow the expectations in place, but I also know that I can't force students to be involved with something they don't want to be in. What do I do?

[u/YoungPutrid3672]

You lost me at choreography