St. Charles students' choice: Band or exploratory courses
Parents and students were unsuccessful in begging the St. Charles school board Thursday to not make middle-school students choose between band and exploratory courses.
But there was a small compromise, in that the board decided to keep small-group instrumental instruction available - for sixth-graders only.
The board is looking for ways to cut more than $5.8 million in its proposed 2010-11 budget. The budget year begins July 1, and it must be adopted by Sept. 30.
That projected deficit grew by several hundred thousand dollars between the last school board meeting and this, as the district learned it won't be able to increase its tax levy as much as it had hoped, due to a lower-than-expected increase in the Consumer Price Index.
The board put middle-school band, choir and orchestra classes into the exploratory-class time, eliminating the equivalent of one full-time teacher.
"I just want to ask you, when you guys were students, when you were supposed to make decisions about things that would help you in high school and things that would help you your entire life, what would you do?" asked high school student Amanda Bartelson. She was referring to middle-school students potentially having to choose between taking exploratory courses that prepare them for high school, such as computer skills classes, and band, choir or orchestra.
About 20 students and several dozen adults attended the meeting. Many of the adults cited research that shows people who study fine arts do better on standardized academic tests, and that music incorporates mathematics and language skills and history lessons.
"I would not be where I am today without one-on-one middle school instruction," said high-schooler Joe Gaffney, noting he is trying to get into the Marine Corps band program.
One parent suggested the board look at cutting instructional support coaches back instead. Such coaches are teachers who spend part of their time teaching other teachers.
Others suggested the board look at deeper cuts to extracurricular activities, and freezing administrators' pay.
Several board members urged administrators to find a way to continue offering small-group instruction, where, say, trombone students are pulled out separately for instrument-specific instruction.
Board member Kathleen Hewell suggested the compromise.
"At some point they have to go to private lessons anyway (if they are seriously interested) ... and maybe at this point the district can't afford to give semiprivate lessons for an extended period of time," she said.
Administrators noted that principals would like to change small-group instruction anyway, since students are now pulled out of academic core classes for it. If it is kept, they suggest students either be pulled out of the large-group instruction, or out of exploratory classes or study hall.
Other items in the budget list include reducing site budgets 6 percent across the board, getting rid of four FTE dean's assistants at the high school, spending less on textbooks, and doubling sports participation fees to $100 per student per sport.
Classes: Budget would double sports participation fee