Yeah, like I said, I'm not defending any band teachers. However, my kids' elementary school band teacher was awesome, but the saxophone she loaned my son one summer was absolute shit. My daughter struggled with the drum kits in every grade because they were always falling apart. And our school district is considered one of the wealthier ones in the area.

I would bet that one clarinet's pads wasn't the only issue in the school district. It's more likely that the pads went unnoticed because there were so many other more significant problems that no one ever got around to dealing with the pads.

I'm not defending the band teacher. Just suggesting there might be a lot more to this.