Help coming for popular Grayslake band programs
Grayslake Elementary District 46 board members have agreed to provide an additional teacher to help with thriving band programs.
District 46 board members acted about a week after Frederick Elementary School band directors Eric Rivera and Aaron Mulder said they needed help because the program has become so popular.
By a 4-0 vote Thursday night, the District 46 board approved the addition of a teacher who will split time with the Frederick and Grayslake Middle School bands.
Now that the position has been approved, District 46 Superintendent Ellen Correll said she'll seek candidates and conduct interviews.
The school board would be asked to vote on the recommended candidate and salary in time for the 2015-16 academic year.
Correll spoke about what she believes is creating the enthusiasm for band among District 46 students.
"I think what we're doing differently here is that, at Frederick, we're providing the base for the instruction," she said.
" So, it's like beginning reading. We're giving all the beginning skills that are needed and we're providing instruction for those kids every single day. So frequently in other districts, you'll see they may have instruction one time a week and then band once a week. We're doing it every single day. So that's what gives the basis for the kids, so they're so much farther ahead once they get to ... the middle school."
Last week, Mulder and Rivera made a detailed presentation to the school board on why an extra band instructor was justified. It's projected that the 2015-16 academic season will be the first time when a majority of Frederick's student body will be enrolled in band.
It's expected that at least 336 Frederick students will be in band. Rivera and Mulder were concerned about having to handle 168 students apiece.
District 46 board President Steve Strack said after Thursday's meeting that one of his children went through the band programs at Frederick and Grayslake Middle School and another is about to start in fifth grade. He said his daughter who experienced band "loved every second of it."
"When you consider that this coming year more than half the (Frederick) student body is going to be in band, I think that speaks to the importance of the program," Strack said, "and tell us that there's support for it in the community, for sure. And if that's the case, then I think that we need to make sure that we have the resources available to provide the program."
Steve Thomas is the middle school's band director. Under his leadership, the seventh and eighth grade students have played prestigious gigs such as the annual Jazz in the Meadows festival at Rolling Meadows High School.
Frederick School, which serves fifth and sixth grade, has been recruiting children for band before they enter the building. Once in the program, the directors said, about 90 percent of the students remain with band in sixth grade, which is above the 85 percent retention rate listed by the National Center for Education Statistics.