Lettering Guidelines for Keller ISD High School Orchestras

High School students must earn 10 points in a school year to letter. Points will be awarded for the following: 

• TMEA All-State Orchestra membership (10 points)

• TMEA Area Orchestra membership (2 points)

• Auditioned for All-State Orchestra but was not selected as an All-State Orchestra member (1 point)

• TMEA Region Symphony Orchestra membership (7 points)

• TMEA Region Philharmonic Orchestra (5 points)

• Auditioned for Region Orchestra but was not selected as a Region Orchestra member (2 points)

• First Division on a Class one solo at Keller ISD Solo & Ensemble Contest (4 points)

• First Division on a Class one ensemble at Keller ISD Solo & Ensemble Contest (4 points)

• First Division on a Class two solo at Keller ISD Solo & Ensemble Contest (2 points)

• First Division on a Class two ensemble at Keller ISD Solo & Ensemble Contest (2 points)

• First Division on a Class three solo at Keller ISD Solo & Ensemble Contest (1 point)

• First Division on a Class three ensemble at Keller ISD Solo & Ensemble Contest (1 point)

• Perform in a local youth or college ensemble (FWYO, DYO, DAAYO, GNTYO, etc.) (2 points)

• Audition for a local youth or college ensemble (1 point)

• Perform in school pit-orchestra for a musical (5 points)

• Leadership role (section leader, member of team, officer, etc.) (2 points)

Keller ISD policy states that students must purchase their own letter jackets. Orchestra directors will provide a list of eligible students to the letter jacket company and set up a date for students to be measured at school. This shall be the extent of the involvement of the directors in securing a letter jacket for the student. All transactions are handled directly between the student and the district-approved vendor.

At the discretion of the campus director and the Director of Fine Arts, each orchestra student that has not earned a letter jacket by the end of their 11th grade year, and who has remained a member in good standing every semester of their 9th, 10th, and 11th grade years, will qualify for a jacket at the beginning of their senior year.

All appeals to lettering decisions, and all special circumstances, will be heard and dealt with on a case-by-case basis by a committee composed of the Director of Fine Arts, the appropriate campus director, and another committee member appointed at the discretion of the Director of Fine Arts.

Each campus director will be responsible for ensuring that a student does not receive more than one major award.

To eliminate the need for a system of point transfer and archival record keeping, lettering points will not carry over from one year to the next. Each year all students will begin with zero points.