Music is an important part of a child's well-rounded education. However, I am concerned that Oyster River experiences a significant drop-off in music participation between the ORMS and ORHS. How can we address this? Please lend your own opinion (and support); we need to ENGAGE our learners throughout their Oyster River academic careers.
We have wonderful music educators willing to guide our students; let's offer, at least, our input. Thank you!
P.S. I would love to see Blog discussions refocus on the real issues...our children's education!
Thank you Megan for posting this!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. I want us to remember why we are even participating on this Blog. Is it not about giving our children the best opportunities possible? Is it not about having rich offerings that engage a span of interests and levels? How can we allow our children to reach their full potential?
ReplyDeleteThere is no room for fiscal misfeasance and political shenanigans...our children deserve MUCH better.
OK. Enough preachiness.
I am not surprised by the drop off in interest as students get older. I think a lot of parents go out of their way to encourage music early on and then as their child gets older, they find something else more interesting to do with their time or begin to speak up about what they want to do, relying less on their parents to make those kind of decisions. I am willing to bet it is not an unusual trend at Oyster River when compared to other school districts.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The trend is expected. However, from the research I conducted on the ORCSD Strategic Planning working group, I learned that ORCSD's drop off rate was significantly higher than other comparable districts. This begs questions.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone considered the fact that Oyster River has at least 5 teachers (I'm not sure what the current count is) to cover the music program through the 8th grade. When students enter the high school, there is one teacher to handle it all. I know that it is risky to suggest adding teachers, but if the high school added another music teacher (part time would be fine) to cover choruses, it would free Marc LaForce up to offer an orchestra and ensembles. There are a lot of kids in our district who play strings, but have no place to do it in the schools.
ReplyDeleteThe high school also needs to consider scheduling possibilities that would allow more kids to participate in chorus and band. With all of classes required for graduation, students can't afford to take two periods out of every day to be in band and chorus. Not to mention that scheduling conflicts wouldn't allow for it. The middle school used to hold band practices before school. Why couldn't this happen at the high school?