MUSIC ADVOCACY: Caring Enough to Put the Student First
December 01, 2009
FOCUS ON ADVOCACY: When Is A Loss A Loss?
Here’s the story. A small district with approximately 5,000 students has one high school, two middle schools, five elementary schools, and a very active Band Boosters organization. The Boosters were very effective fundraisers and perceived as politically active. Despite their activity, they were unaware of how the system worked and did not attend the school board meetings where decisions were being made.
The Deception: The chief administrator, who was a father of children attending school in the district, presented a public profile of strong support for music education. However, he sent his most musical child outside the district to a magnet school for the arts. Evidently the administrator recognized that previous decisions had rendered music opportunities insufficient for the education of his own family members, but not for students in the community at large.
The History: Over the previous two decades, the district had eliminated the following music positions:
Eliminated grade 4 strings
Eliminated 1.0 FTE middle school band position
Eliminated 1.0 FTE, plus one part time middle choir position
Reduced high school band to .8 FTE
Eliminated 1.0 FTE middle school orchestra position through retirement
Eliminated Jazz Band and Jazz Choir
Reduced middle school band, orchestra and choir from daily to every other day; and combined students from grades 7 and 8 into a single performing organization
(Editor’s note: See a basic primer about FTE and several additional FTE articles on staffing, average FTE value, staffing ratio, and more in the CounterPoint archives.)
The Proposal: The administrative recommendation that had been approved by the board included the following additional reductions to the music program
At one middle school, band and orchestra would be eliminated from the curriculum and moved to Community Education
At the second middle school, orchestra would be eliminated from the curriculum and moved to Community Education
Elimination of music teachers as specified would have left only .4 FTE position for the entire orchestra curriculum, and 1.9 FTE positions for the entire band curriculum.
Working with a consultant to gather and present sufficient statistical data to justify retention of the program (see Reverse Economics), the Boosters were allowed to present their data and objections to the board and administration. Unfortunately, the lead teacher (who was getting ready to retire) undermined the parent presentation and stated that he felt these issues could be resolved in the scheduled curriculum review process. (Note: There was no written curriculum to review.)
During all of this discussion, the administration held fast to its guise of “strong administrative support for music education.” After the presentation, the Boosters were told that the band and orchestra programs were to be reinstated in the middle school. At first, the Boosters felt relieved, even had a sense that they had succeeded, but the programs were instead reformatted and essentially became “creative” general music survey classes. The announcement of this change was made, but “no one knew” about the change. Enrollments in band, choir and orchestra dropped significantly and immediately. The required music “survey” classes that replaced music performance were bursting at the seams, so much so that one principal added the music performance ensembles back into the schedule. The performance program began to grow again.
The Response: The Band Boosters, now a district-wide Music Coalition representing all areas of the music curriculum, decided that they not only had been deceived, but that there were obvious punitive actions that had been adopted to demonstrate the power of the board and administration. So they took action! Immediately two members of the Music Coalition filed as candidates for the next school board election and won. With only two members from the coalition on the seven-member board their effectiveness as music advocates was minimal. However, the music coalition was not done yet. Two years later they elected two more coalition members to the board, gaining the majority voting power. Within a matter of days the administration requested a meeting to calm the waters. At the same time, the administration took away the concessions stand that the boosters had used for fundraising, again attempting to demonstrate its power.
The Future: A consultant was hired to develop a curriculum. When the new board took office, one of the first items on the agenda was a resolution to develop a plan for reinstatement of the entire music curriculum! And now, after four years of perseverance, in addition to those on the board, there is at least one member of the Music Coalition in attendance at every board meeting. This is not the first such story. In a very large district with well over 500,000 students the music coalition worked with great diligence to convince the school board and administration of the need for music education, particularly in the elementary schools where there was not a single music teacher. After eight years of persistent effort, including attendance at school board meetings and information sharing and communication with board members and administration, they were rewarded with the decision to hire 400 new music teachers.
The Moral: When is a loss a loss? When you give up!
-- Dr. John Benham is a leading music education advocate, consultant and teacher, who served two terms on a Minnesota school board of education.
