To say that Mark Toffelmier is an institution at Roseville High School is an understatement. To say that he is passionate, inspiring, a leader, a teacher, a mentor, a math tutor, and an advisor is an understatement. Mark Toffelmier is all of these things and more.

How many students that he graduated each year went on to be the most punctual employees because they could never forget the phrase “to be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is unacceptable”?

How many students has he graduated that learned self-discipline, teamwork, relationship building, problem solving, analytical skills, and attention to detail?

How many leaders has he graduated that have gone on to become educators, lawyers, social workers, firefighters, managers and more?

How many students joined because they needed to fill a credit, thought it was an ‘easy A’, or heard about it from a friend, only to find out it took dedication, commitment, and countless hours of hard work? Those same students who stumbled in, lost and struggling through high school found a home and a community in the RHS band.

That’s the thing about the arts. They don’t just teach us the arts.

Removing Mark Toffelmier as band director will not miraculously rejuvenate the program or build for the future. Removing Mark Toffelmier against his will takes his current students and puts them at risk. There are students that will not finish high school because of this decision. I know this to be true because there were students in my class that have attributed their success in high school to band and Mark Toffelmier and there are certainly students today in those same shoes. When they struggled with math, Mark Toffelmier tutored them. Band gave them something to wake up for every day, a goal to strive for, a passion to work together for something special. Band gave them a release from the brain-bending work they had done all day. When dyslexia gave them headaches from reading, the quarter notes on the page calmed the pain.

We have written this letter to express our opinion that removing Mark Toffelmier as band director at RHS would be to the detriment of current and future RHS band students. To do this under the guise that it will invest in the future of current elementary students is a farce and an insult to our RHS education. We strongly encourage every party to consider the full weight of these actions and reverse this decision as soon as possible.
-Andrew Nichols, C/o ‘05