AboutPatricia Ireland-Williams Expertise I am a retired K-12 Public School Principal (8 years as a teacher and counselor) and 23 years as an administrator. I can help parents with questions about how the system works, provide ideas on how to solve school issues or assist teachers in coping with the plethera of stressors they face.
Experience I am currently an educational consultant and have served on the State of Arizona Solutions Team.
Question How do you handle music as it relates to scheduling problems and demands within the school day. For example, many schools are forced to have band, choir, orchestra, and private lessons after school rather than during the school day. This inconveniences parents of students who ride the bus home and devalues music education. What has your district done to address this issue?
Answer I don't believe that this devalues music education at all in that a small percentage of kids are involved as compared to an entire school population ie: 100 out of 750 kids. Of course, if parents want their children involved in school sponsored activities, they must provide for their own transportation (just like they have to for pom, cheer, clubs, sports, etc. Of course, if this is not possible, the parent can always arrange private lessons elsewhere when it is convenient to the family. Most districts made band, choir, orchestra and private lessons after school about 5 years ago. We also charge a fee for participation in these activities in that the extra pay for the teachers is beyond the normal school day. This was necessary because the curriculum requirements are so extensive that there is not time in the 7.5 hour school day to cover it, let alone provide any extracurricular activities. Music, P.E. and Computers are still taught during the school day on an every three day rotation basis.
Academic achievement is definately the focus rather than extracurricular development nation wide.
Best of luck in adapting this reality to your situation.
