Spring concert gets new night so seniors can attend

It's important for seniors to be at the concert, the Choral Boosters president said.
CANFIELD -- The school district has moved the date for the spring concert to a Thursday after parents complained about its being moved from Sunday to Saturday this year.
The winter and spring concerts had been scheduled on Sunday evenings, but the district is trying to keep school activities from being scheduled on Sundays so they don't interfere with church events.
At the school board's meeting last month, Becky Myhal, president of the Canfield Choral Boosters, said parents were unhappy with the change to Saturday. Seven out of 20 seniors in the three choirs that perform at the concert would not be able to make it that night, she said. That's significant, she said, because the spring concert makes a special effort to honor seniors.
Myhal said she didn't understand why the district had to change the date when Sundays work well for attendance.
Board member Martha Zarlenga told her there was a "courtesy understanding" with ministers not to schedule school events on Sundays. Myhal said she and other parents consulted several pastors of local churches, who indicated that the concert's start time of 7 p.m. would not be an interference.
Superintendent Dante Zambrini said last week that the date was changed to Thursday, May 17, after a consultation with building principal Abby Barone and choir director Kelly Scurich.
Myhal said the Thursday date hasn't pleased everyone, because some parents have to work that night and can't attend. But it's better, she said, because at least all the seniors can be there. She said her own daughter, a senior, would not have been able to attend the Saturday concert because of a commitment to sing at a wedding.
"The whole thing was about the kids," she said.