Sectional Changes at the Elementary School level
Thank you to the MANY parents that attended the "Coffee and Conversation" with the Board of Education at BONNIE BRANCH MIDDLE SCHOOL on March 20, 2014 from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm. We stayed until about 9:45 pm! It was a very productive evening and I think we did a good job of expressing our concerns about music as well as CEU's and Common Core. The BOE members said that usually they have about 12 parents attend this event. There were at least 50 parents at this meeting!! The BOE members that attended were: Sandra French, Cindy Vallincourt, Ellen Giles, and Ann DeLacy. Frank Aquino stopped by briefly.
On Thursday March 13, 2014 the Howard County Parents for School Music ("HCPSM") presented information to the Board of Education in support of a request for open dialog about possible changes to the scheduling of instrumental music instruction. The audience "standing room only". You may view the entire meeting here, but if you want to see the parents that spoke in support of music education, use the list below the video and click on "B. PUBLIC FORUM" and also "9. PUBLIC FORUM". In addition, here is a report from WBAL about the meeting. Thank you to the 5 BBMS parents that attended the March 13, 2014
Board of Education meeting last night in support of music education.
Read this petition written by a member of the Howard County Parents for School Music (HCPSM) and consider signing it. Click here to learn more about HCPSM and get involved.
Background
Howard County is considering changes to the elementary school curriculum that increase foreign language education at an early age. This is a good thing. However, adding more curriculum without lengthening the school day will require changes to the daily schedules that could have an impact on instrumental music instruction. Here is an excerpt from the Howard County Public School System website (http://www.hcpss.org/academics/elementary-model/) that acknowledges that a schedule change will be needed to implement the new elementary school model (this text is from the very bottom of the webpage, under the "Student Schedule" section):
HCPSS is committed to maintaining integrity and high expectations for each of our programs, while focusing on what is in the best interest of all students. The elementary school day is six hours and thirty minutes. The additional programming requires a shift in how we schedule the day into instructional blocks. At this time no decisions about the model school schedule have been made.
The Music Boosters are not against foreign language education, but we are against reducing music and arts education. We want to ensure that "sectionals" are maintained or increased. For those of you that don't know, a "sectional" is the time when the student is "pulled out" of their regular classroom and sent to the music room to learn their instrument in a SMALL group of students all playing the SAME instrument. It is key to learning the instrument. The new model has the music teacher teaching almost all of the kids at once! Imagine trying to teach a 3rd grader how to hold a violin and its bow while the other 40 kids sit and "wait patiently and quietly." In that environment it is not possible to give enough individual instruction to each child so that he or she feels successful. If young kids don't feel successful with their instrument early on, they quit. The negative impact on those kids is obvious, but it will also affect the kids that stay in music.
If more elementary school kids get discouraged with their instrument and quit, then fewer kids will play at the middle and high school levels. As a result, the size of the bands and orchestras at the middle and high schools will decrease. If fewer kids are participating at the secondary level, then less money will be allocated in the budget for the music departments. Fewer school-sponsored music opportunities will be available, some schools might not have enough participation to have a band or orchestra at all. Orchestras and bands need everyone to succeed, not just the best of the best. Eliminating sectionals and reducing music education at the elementary level will have long term detrimental effects. Just look around the country at other school systems that do not have music education as early as Howard County. You don't even have to look far -- just look at other counties in Maryland.
On Thursday March 13, 2014 the Howard County Parents for School Music ("HCPSM") presented information to the Board of Education in support of a request for open dialog about possible changes to the scheduling of instrumental music instruction. The audience "standing room only". You may view the entire meeting here, but if you want to see the parents that spoke in support of music education, use the list below the video and click on "B. PUBLIC FORUM" and also "9. PUBLIC FORUM". In addition, here is a report from WBAL about the meeting. Thank you to the 5 BBMS parents that attended the March 13, 2014
Board of Education meeting last night in support of music education.
Read this petition written by a member of the Howard County Parents for School Music (HCPSM) and consider signing it. Click here to learn more about HCPSM and get involved.
Background
Howard County is considering changes to the elementary school curriculum that increase foreign language education at an early age. This is a good thing. However, adding more curriculum without lengthening the school day will require changes to the daily schedules that could have an impact on instrumental music instruction. Here is an excerpt from the Howard County Public School System website (http://www.hcpss.org/academics/elementary-model/) that acknowledges that a schedule change will be needed to implement the new elementary school model (this text is from the very bottom of the webpage, under the "Student Schedule" section):
HCPSS is committed to maintaining integrity and high expectations for each of our programs, while focusing on what is in the best interest of all students. The elementary school day is six hours and thirty minutes. The additional programming requires a shift in how we schedule the day into instructional blocks. At this time no decisions about the model school schedule have been made.
The Music Boosters are not against foreign language education, but we are against reducing music and arts education. We want to ensure that "sectionals" are maintained or increased. For those of you that don't know, a "sectional" is the time when the student is "pulled out" of their regular classroom and sent to the music room to learn their instrument in a SMALL group of students all playing the SAME instrument. It is key to learning the instrument. The new model has the music teacher teaching almost all of the kids at once! Imagine trying to teach a 3rd grader how to hold a violin and its bow while the other 40 kids sit and "wait patiently and quietly." In that environment it is not possible to give enough individual instruction to each child so that he or she feels successful. If young kids don't feel successful with their instrument early on, they quit. The negative impact on those kids is obvious, but it will also affect the kids that stay in music.
If more elementary school kids get discouraged with their instrument and quit, then fewer kids will play at the middle and high school levels. As a result, the size of the bands and orchestras at the middle and high schools will decrease. If fewer kids are participating at the secondary level, then less money will be allocated in the budget for the music departments. Fewer school-sponsored music opportunities will be available, some schools might not have enough participation to have a band or orchestra at all. Orchestras and bands need everyone to succeed, not just the best of the best. Eliminating sectionals and reducing music education at the elementary level will have long term detrimental effects. Just look around the country at other school systems that do not have music education as early as Howard County. You don't even have to look far -- just look at other counties in Maryland.
