Parents, teachers, students rally to save Boyertown programs

Published: Wednesday, April 27, 2011; Last Updated: Wed. Apr 27, 2011, 7:51am

http://www.pottsmerc.com/articles/2011/04/27/news/doc4db77414554c4523037327.txt?viewmode=fullstory

By Phil Ellingsworth Jr., pellingsworth@pottsmerc.com

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With a musical note painted on like a tear in her eye, a member of the Boyertown High School choir sings with fellow classmates during a rally for the arts and music programs in the school district. Photo by John Strickler/The Mercury

BOYERTOWN — Nearly 300 elementary, middle and high school students filled the halls of Boyertown Junior High West with music and artwork before Tuesday night’s school board meeting, showing the community the educational value of programs facing the chopping block.

Trying to draw attention to the proposed cuts to art and music programming, students stretched around the building and crammed the hallways of the school two hours prior to the board meeting, giving members an opportunity to see the programs they were considering eliminating and curtailing.

The rally was prompted after school board members gave district administrators the green light during the recent finance committee meeting to explore scenario 1 of the six budgetary impact outlines, which would substantially cut and reduce funding to classes and extra-curricular programs in the 2011-12 budget.

In the proposed plan, secondary music and art electives would be cut by 50 percent; the kindergarten through 12th-grade strings program would be completely eliminated; and funding to the district’s summer music program would be cut.

Those eliminations and curtailments would save the district roughly $795,000 and affect approximately 4,000 students.
Those proposed cuts to programs that have helped children excel did not sit well with many parents, especially district resident Rob Boyer.

Boyer, who is a parent volunteer for the elementary strings and band programs, said with the district having a “strong music legacy” dating back more than 50 years, board members should reconsider their proposals.

“It’s crushing,” Boyer said. “I don’t want to see these programs die out in Boyertown.”

Even though students could obtain private lessons if the program cuts were enacted, Boyer said it would not provide students with the same detailed focus and attention.

“We know that’s important,” he said.

A point that Bechtelsville resident Sue Spleen concurred with.

Moving to the district several years ago was a choice the Spleen family made, so her children could take full advantage of Boyertown’s art and technology courses.

“They got a wonderful education,” she said.

Now that the district is considering reducing programs that helped Spleen’s children land their future careers, she said it is a “disgrace” and something needs to change.

“I’m really upset with what the district is planning,” she said. “They’re really hurting students.”

Planning for his senior year is what 11th-grade Boyertown Area Senior High School student Shane Bender is concerned about, especially with what the school board is proposing.

Sitting in the entrance of Junior High West playing guitar, Bender said the courses and extra-curricular activities offered in the district have influenced him to become a graphic designer after he graduates.

But if the school board cuts all of the courses he needs during his last year in school, it will “ruin” his chances to get into a good college.

“Just taking that away would ruin the community and what the school stands for,” Bender said.

Friend Natalie Troxel agreed with Bender, adding that the proposed cuts to arts and music, among other programs, will make Boyertown like every other “average” school across the country.

Boyertown school district students, residents and teachers rallied together to protest the proposed cuts to arts and music programs. Organizers performed music and posted artwork throughout the Boyertown Junior High West Building prior to the school board meeting on the district’s nearly $6.5 million deficit. The organizers wanted the board members to see the value of those programs.

Boone band supporters speak out to prevent cuts

Published: Tuesday, April 19, 2011; Last Updated: Tue. Apr 19, 2011, 7:45am

By Laura Catalano, Special to The Mercury

AMITY — The Daniel Boone Area School Board still has tough decisions to make in trying to close a projected $5.3 million shortfall in the proposed 2010-11 budget, but high school band members are hoping their programs don’t wind up on the chopping block.

At a board meeting Monday night attended by about 50 people, several band members and band parents pleaded with the board not to cut music education or extracurricular activities.

“I cringe when I think where I would be without drum line,” said Daniel Boone High School 10th grader Angela Bongiovani, who added she is worried that several of her band mates “would be addicted to drugs, others would be addicted to video games, and some of us wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves,” if the percussion ensemble were eliminated.

Parent Theresa Walter read from an article that linked music and art education to higher standardized test scores and lower dropout rates.

“Please study the effects of music education on our children before making any cuts to our music program,” she asked the board.

However, board member Walter Sheehan told the audience that the only cuts being recommended to the high school band program were those that were recommended by the band director.

After the meeting, board President Andrew Basile insisted that no cuts were currently proposed to the high school marching band, other than a recommendation to eliminate funding for color guard and winter guard. The board is also looking at doing away with the fourth and fifth grade band program.

“That’s not on the table, to cut marching band,” Basile said.

However, the board recently changed the competition band from a co-curricular activity — for which students received a grade — to an ungraded extracurricular activity. That was done for several reasons.

For one thing, district policy calls for all graded activities to take place during the school day, and band competitions occur after school, according to Basile. For another, as an extracurricular activity, competition bands could now be subject to an activity fee, if the board decides to implement such fees.

The board is considering charging a fee for all extracurricular activities. It has recommended a fee schedule that would charge $150 for the first activity and $75 for the second taken during a school year. There would be no additional charge for a third activity, and a maximum of $500 per family.

“Activity fees are a way for a school district to generate an alternative source of revenue,” Basile explained.

The fees would not be expected to cover the entire cost of the program, but they could help the district fund programs like percussion ensemble.

But parent Jamie Mannering said after the meeting that she is still worried the band programs could be cut.

“Right now, all the extracurricular activities are on the table. Competition used to be a co-curricular activity, but now it’s an extracurricular activity,” Mannering said.

Some board members said they believe the band director needed to know exactly what would be cut from the music education program in order to begin planning for next year’s competitions. But Basile said the band’s plans should be made as they have been in past years.

“No one has said marching band has to change its competitions. No one’s made that decision,” he said. “Start making your plans as if you have the money, and you may have to make changes later on.”

In other budgetary discussions, the board voted to fund the elementary basic skills math program at 100 percent for next year, rather than 80 percent as proposed, adding $37,000 back into the tentative budget.

“If elementary students don’t get a good foundation in math they will never succeed and we’re going to spend a lot more than $37,000 to remediate them,” board member Margaret Fiset said.

The board will discuss the budget and review other proposed cuts at a budget workshop scheduled for tonight at 7 in the middle school auditorium.

http://pottsmerc.com/articles/2011/04/19/news/doc4dad76accb607314738461.txt?viewmode=fullstory

After-school activities’ grades won’t count

Originally Published: 3/30/2011

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=298046

The Daniel Boone School Board has rejected a policy that would have allowed students in band and choir to get credit for the grades they get for after-school activities such as competitions and performances.

While participants are graded on those activities, the current policy does not provide for those grades, Solicitor Brian Subers said. The school board discovered the discrepancy while reviewing policies.

The policy change was suggested by music teachers and high school administration, board member Alan D. Ross said.

A motion to approve the change failed when only three of seven board members voted for it: Ross, Scott L. Potts and Walter P. Sheehan.

Board member Margaret M. Fiset said music and arts are important but after-school performances are not part of state standards.

Board member Tamara D. Twardowski said the board could either change the policy or change the practice.

The board also asked Ann Marie Traynor, assistant to the superintendent, to talk to the strategic plan committee about its work on the three-year plan update.

Some school board members said they were worried the district might not be able to afford some of the things the committee is suggesting.

The board asked Traynor to ask the committee to couch its proposals as suggestions, mindful that cost is a consideration.

Traynor said she would report back to the board in April.

– By Erin Negley

School music cuts to get silent treatment

Originally Published: 3/5/2011

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=292019

Darrin Youker  Reading Eagle

On March 31, Daniel Long plans on spending a full day without music.

The Twin Valley High School music teacher will silence his radio, turn off the television and not play a note of music that day. And he’s encouraging others to do the same.

Calling it “The Day the Music Died,” a nod to Don McLean’s famed song “American Pie,” Long is trying to raise awareness about how much music touches everyone’s life.

He also hopes the attention will discourage Berks County school districts from cutting back on music programs as they look to balance their 2011-12 budgets.

In a show of solidarity, Music Educators of Berks County has offered its support, along with the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, a group of 700 teachers.

“We want people to experience what we already know, that music is an important part of everyone’s lives,” Long said.

Music’s value in education is well established, Long said, explaining that studies have shown that exposure to music helps improve a person’s IQ. It also teaches work ethic and persistence, he said.

On March 31, Long said he won’t play music in school to teach students but will use the day to have them write about music appreciation.

Music Educators of Berks County, a group consisting of local music teachers, wanted to start an awareness campaign in response to proposed budget cuts in school music programs across the county. Organizers, however, were unable to come up with a specific idea, said Long, who is the group’s president.

Then, about a week ago, Long discovered his home radio was not working, and the idea came to him that a day without music would make a statement.

“We want to get as many people going without music for a day as we can,” Long said.

Twin Valley is among the Berks school districts that are considering reducing some music offerings to help balance the budget. Under its preliminary budget, Twin Valley would trim its elementary instrumental program and not fill a music position at the high school.

Michael Buterbaugh, who teaches vocal music at Schuylkill Valley High School, said that so far the district’s music department has stayed intact in the preliminary 2011-12 budget.

But that doesn’t mean music is immune from potential cuts, especially if state funding to school districts is less this year, he said.

“Music is not hands-off,” he said.

Buterbaugh plans to talk to his students about how music impacts their everyday lives and, if possible, he might keep things silent in the classroom March 31.

“Music is one of the few subjects that can teach both the intellect and the soul of the students,” he said. “It is a lot of education value.”

Contact Darrin Youker: 610-371-5032 or dyouker@readingeagle.com.

U.S Department of Education Recommends the Arts

The U.S. Department of Education recommends the arts to college-bound middle and junior high school students asserting, “Many colleges view participation in the arts and music as valuable experience that broadens students’ understanding and appreciation of the world around them.”

In addition, it plays a part in developing “children’s intellectual development.” The U.S. DOE also suggests one year of Visual and Performing Arts for college-bound high school students. (Source: Getting Ready for College Early: A Handbook for Parents of Students in the Middle and Junior High School Years, U.S. Department of Education, 1997)

The arts are one of the six subject areas in which the College Board recognizes as essential in order to thrive in college. (Source: Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need to Know and Be Able to Do, 1983 [still in use], The College Board, New York )

The arts produce jobs, generating an estimate $37 billion with a return of $3.4 billion in federal income taxes. (Source: American Arts Alliance Fact Sheet, October 1996 )

Students taking courses in music performance and music appreciation scored higher in the SAT than students with no arts participation. Music performance students scored 53 points higher on the verbal and 39 points higher on the math. Music appreciation students scored 61 points higher on the verbal and 42 points higher on the math. (Source: 1999 College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers, The College Entrance Examination Board, Princeton, New Jersey)

According to the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, music students received more academic honors and awards than non-music students. A higher percentage of music participants received As, As/Bs, and Bs than non-music participants. (Source: NELS:88 First Follow-up, 1990, National Center for Education Statistics, Washington D.C.)

Lewis Thomas, physician and biologist, found that music majors comprise the highest percentage of accepted medical students at 66%. (Source: As reported in “The Case for Music in the Schools,” Phi Delta Kappan, February 1994.)

Research made between music and intelligence concluded that music training is far greater than computer instruction in improving children’s abstract reasoning skills.(Source: Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, “Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children’s spatial-temporal reasoning,” Neurological Research, vol. 19, February 1997 )

The University of Montreal researched brain imaging techniques to study brain activity during musical tasks. Researches concluded that sight-reading musical scores and playing music “activate regions in all four of the cortex’s lobes” and “parts of the cerebellum are also activated during those tasks.” (Source: J. Sergent, E. Zuck, S. Tenial, and B. MacDonnall (1992). Distributed neural network underlying musical sight reading and keybpard performance. Science, 257, 106-109. )

Researchers in Leipzig discovered through the use of brain scans that musicians had larger planum temporale, the region of the brain associated with reading skills. Also, musicians had a thicker corpus callosum, the nerve fibers that connect the two halves of the brain. (Source: G. Schlaug, L. Jancke, Y. Huang, and H. Steinmetz (1994). “In vivo morphometry of interhemispheric asymmetry and connectivity in musicians.” In I. Deliege (Ed.), Proceedings of the 3rd international conference for music perception and cognition (pp. 417-418), Liege, Belgium. )

“The arts enrich communities and employees, and also stimulate the kind of intellectual curiosity our company needs to stay competitive.” (Source: Norma R. Augustine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Martin Marietta Corporation.)

“A grounding in the arts will help our children to see; to bring a uniquely human perspective to science and technology. In short, it will help them as they grow smarter to also grow wiser. (Source: Robert E. Allen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AT&T Corporation, in “America’s Culture Begins with Education”)

This data is exerpted from Music Makes the Difference: Music, Brain Development, and Learning which is MENC publication #1668 and may be purchased at the MENC website at www.menc.org.

Arts Education aids students in skills needed in the workplace: flexibility, the ability to solve problems and communicate; the ability to learn new skills, to be creative and innovative, and to strive for excellence. (Source: Joseph M. Calahan, Director of Corporate Communications, Xerox. Corporation)

I believe arts education in music, theater, dance and the visual arts is one of the most creative ways we have to find the gold that is buried just beneath the surface. They (children) have an enthusiasm for life, a spark of creativity, and vivied imaginations that need training…training that prepares them to become confident young men and women. As I visit schools around the country I see a renewed interest in arts education and a growing concern about the negative impact of cutting art and music out of curriculum. The creativity of the arts and the joy of music should be central to the education of every American child. (Source: Richard W. Riley, U.S. Secretary of Education)

Music is Beating Computers at Enhancing Early Childhood Development. Music training, specifically piano instruction, is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children’s abstract reasoning skills necessary for learning math and science. Learning music at an early age causes long-term enhancement of spatial-temporal reasoning. (Source: Frances Rauscher, Ph.D., Gordon Shaw, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1997)

Music Enhances Linguistic Skills. Music — specifically song — is one of the best training grounds for babies learning to recognize the tones that add up to spoken language. (Source Sandra Trehubn, University of Toronto, 1997)

America Is a Country Full of Music-Makers. 113 million, or 53% of Americans over the age of 12 are current or former music makers. (Source: 1997 “American Attitudes Towards Music” poll conducted by the Gallup Organization)

Americans Say Schools Should Offer Instrumental Music Instruction as part of the regular curriculum. 88% of respondents indicated this in a 1997 “American Attitudes Towards Music” Gallup poll. (Source: Music Trades, September 1997)

Student involvement in extracurricular or cocurricular activities makes students resilient to current substance use among their peers, according to a recent statewide survey of Texas Schools. Secondary students who participated in band, orchestra or choir reported the lowest lifetime use of all substances. (Source: 1994 Texas School Survey of Substance Abuse Among Students: Grades 7-12)

Studying Music Strengthens Students’ Academic Performance. Rhode Island studies have indicated that sequential, skill-building instruction in art and music integrated with the rest of the curriculum can greatly improve children’s performance in reading and math. (Source: “Learning Improved by Arts Training” by Martin Gardiner, Alan Fox, Faith Knowles, and Donna Jeffrey, Nature, May 23, 1996)

Music and Spatial Task Performance: A Casual Relationship. Music lessons, and even simply listening to music, can enhance spatial reasoning performance, a critical higher-brain function necessary to perform complex tasks including mathematics. (Source: Frances Rauscher, Ph.D., Gordon Shaw, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1994)

The Mozart Effect surfaced about four years ago when research uncovered that adults who listened to music of complexity for ten minutes or so experienced temporary increases in their spatial IQ scores. (Source: Frances Rauscher, Ph.D., Gordon Shaw, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1994)

Music Is One of Our Greatest Economic Exports. “The arts are an economic plus — second only to aerospace as our most lucrative national export.” (Source: Michael Greene of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences)

Teacher Expertise in Music is a Critical Factor in Student Learning. Research indicates that teachers of all subjects — including music — who are more experienced and educated are more effective in the classroom. Consequently, students learn more from them. (Source: Paying for Public Education: New Evidence on How and Why Money Matters, by Ronald Ferguson, 1991)

http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/factsandstatistics.html