The following are my comments to the school board at the staff "listening session" on Thursday, February 4.

I'm here today to discuss the proposed budget cuts to the middle school music department.

When asked, about the form these cuts would take, we were told by an administrator that the cuts reflected the position of many on the administrative team that the music department at the middle school (GDS) is overstaffed, and that this concern has existed for some time. Their proposal is to reduce each curricular area, band, choir, and orchestra, down to one FTE (full-time employee) each at GDS.

The school board asked for a survey comparing MG music staffing that of area districts. However, the first music staffing survey numbers the board received regarding staffing in the MG district as compared to other districts are misleading. The survey simply took the total number of students in a school and divided them by the number of that school’s music FTE. This did not take into consideration the number of students participating in music. This information does not represent the number of music students per teacher at those schools, or at GDS. After seeing this inaccurate information, the music department surveyed our colleagues in surrounding districts. The results were passed out at the January 13th school board meeting. If you have any questions about these results, please let me know, as I am the one who tabulated the responses.

In looking for a way to figure out what adequate music staffing might be, one place to start is to look at state recommendations for music staffing. The Planning Curriculum in Music guide published in 2009 by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction gives recommendations for staffing a quality music program. On page 162 in Chapter 10 which covers Program Development, are recommendations by the state that reflect common practices in Wisconsin, as well as recommendations from professional associations that represent the level of support necessary if the content and performance standards identified in the guide are to be achieved. The two following recommendations are relevant to this discussion:

* The teaching load for a music teacher, including student contact time and total number of students, does not exceed the load for teachers in other academic areas.

*Students enrolled in choral or instrumental classes receive at least 30 minutes of small-group instruction weekly in addition to large group rehearsals.

The first point recommends that music teachers have the same teaching load as those of teachers in other academic areas. The No Child Left Behind legislation defines music as one of the core academic areas. If we look at the teaching load of the core teachers at GDS, they teach approximately 100 students.

The next logical step is to look at this year’s middle school music student numbers. If the proposed cuts were in place this year, the one GDS band teacher would have 215 students. The one choir teacher would have 205 students, and the one orchestra teacher would have 143 students. (These numbers do not take into consideration the 6th-grade music students at Winnequah.) If the proposed cuts to music staffing were approved, the teaching load for band and choir would be double that of other academic staff, and for orchestra would be 150% the load of a Core teacher.

Looking at band enrollment trends over time, beginning in 1993, which is the year I began teaching in this district, we have never had less than 200 band students at the middle school, and have had a highs reaching 265. Our average over that time period is 215 band students per year in grades 6-8.

Another aspect of the music program to consider is the opportunity for all students, including those with special needs, to participate. It is the philosophy of the music department that we will serve all students who wish to participate in music. Teachers in other academic areas have support from special ed. teachers and other support staff for students with different learning or physical needs. They work with these students on skills or concepts for which those students need extra instruction. Unlike many other curricular areas, we serve all student needs with our staff only. We teach cognitively disabled students, physically disabled students, and students with varying social or emotional needs as well as musically gifted and talented students. The musically gifted students often can be grouped together in GIGs for small-group instruction and provided with music that will challenge them. Other examples of accommodations made for students include: rewriting the 6th-grade band book and all concert music to an appropriate level for a cognitively disabled student who could read only quarter notes and rests. We have had multiple students with visual impairments. For one we enlarged the music, but for the other student band teachers learned Braille music in order to teach that student the skills needed to be an independent musician. Not only did we learn and then teach Braille music, but also we transcribed much of the band music and rhythm worksheets into Braille.

If, due to the proposed cuts to the music program, the student to teacher ratio in music classes doubles, future music students will not receive the small-group instruction that is currently provided. Without the ability to teach music students in small-group settings the music staff will be unable to meet the needs of all students.