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05/30/2018 08:00 AMNearly 50 parents, students, alumni, and teachers packed into the Board of Education (BOE) meeting on May 22 to voice their concerns over proposed changes to the Brown Middle School music model in the coming years. With Madison in the midst of working through curriculum and structural changes ahead of the district’s contraction from six to five schools in 2019, the ripple effect of a proposed change to music education at Brown has clearly struck a chord with some members of the community.
In particular, the proposal to move students’ ability to specialize in an instrument from grade 5 to 6 has caused controversy.
“I firmly believe that these changes will negatively impact music programs from 5th grade all the way through high school,” said Cynthia Dreier, vice president of Hand Music Boosters. “Eliminating choice at the 5th grade level may decrease overall interest in music programs. Students of this age are developmentally capable of deciding between band, chorus, and orchestra. Forcing all students to take a trimester each will frustrate those who know what they want to do and may result in apathy for the music program in general.”
In the past year, in response to declining enrollment, the district voted to close an elementary school and contract down to a five-school model in the fall of 2019. That new model means the elementary schools move from serving grades K to 4 to K to 3, Brown moves from serving grades 5 and 6 to 4 and 5, and Polson Middle School moves from serving grades 7 and 8 to a 6 to 8-grade configuration.
Moving grades also means changing some curriculum models. With Brown to be considered an intermediate school rather than a middle school in the new model, finding a way to smoothly transition the entire curriculum from 4th grade on has been a focus of the administration in recent months. While nothing is set in stone, how this new model might change music education at Brown is not sitting well with some.
Currently at Brown, under the 5th- and 6th-grade model, students meet every other day for a total of 90 days based on a selection of band, orchestra, chorus, or theater. Students are encouraged to commit to an instrument in 5th grade to make it easier to jump into band/orchestra in grade 6.
Currently 4th grade students receive 40 minutes of general music education once a week; the main instrument explored is the recorder.
Under the proposed model, 6th grade, which will now be at Polson, will be unchanged. At Brown with the 4th and 5th grades now together, students will use a trimester model to explore theater, music, and instrument for 40 minutes every other day. According to the administration, this model increases performing arts education by 34 hours a year and gives students—in both 4th and 5th grade—more time to explore different performing arts before committing to a specific course of study if they so choose.
While the content of each trimester is yet to be determined in consultation with music teachers at Brown, residents packed into the BOE meeting to express concern that, among other reasons, eliminating the ability for students to chose or specialize in an instrument or field in 5th grade will be detrimental to the district music program as a whole.
The concept of choice was a key issue for many in the room on May 22. Students from Brown and the Daniel Hand High School (DHHS) band came to speak against the proposed change. Numerous parents mentioned that they moved to Madison for the music program and that changing the model at the 5th grade level would undercut the success of Madison students at the high school level and beyond, particularly when it comes to specializing in instruments such as string instruments.
Former DHHS student Will Carr said, for students who may not be great athletes, music provides them with a way to have leadership roles and find their passion. As a college student studying music, he said he has seen what music programs look like when students can’t specialize at a young enough age.
Changing the program as proposed “will affect the way high school players learn,” he said. “This past year at UNH, I taught 5th and 6th grade music up at Oyster River and they don’t have anything near to what we have here and they are really hurting from it.”
Peter Bizier, who teaches at Brown Middle School, said giving students a choice in their education at a young age is the key to success.
“Choice empowers passion and one thing that is really important in classrooms is that children have choice,” he said. “I feel very strongly that students having choice in what they take with music is really important at a young age because it is going to empower them and it is going to give them passion.”
While there was a great deal of passion from parents and students, from some there was also the open admission that they didn’t know the whole plan for shifting the model. Stephanie Lesnik said she is concerned about where this type of change might lead.
“I don’t know what the agenda is, I only know the little bits I have heard so I am trying to have an open mind, but I want you to know that I don’t think cutting this opportunity for 5th graders is the greatest choice,” she said. “I think it is a very valuable program and I think the teachers are very valuable. I think part of me is extremely nervous that this is a stepping stone is cutting more music teachers—I don’t know where this goes.”
Resident Eric Dillner, who is also the executive director of the Shoreline Arts Alliance, said he doesn’t want to see the arts cut in his hometown.
“I don’t know the plan, but I just want you to remember that if there is anything that is related to cutting something related to these arts, please don’t let it happen,” he said. “Please don’t let it happen in my town and please don’t let it happen in your town.”
BOE Vice Chair and Planning Committee Chair Jessica Bowler said this proposal does not take any funding away from the Brown music program, but the goal is to provide more music contact time to students in 4th and 5th grade. Additionally, she said all plans are made in conjunction with the administration and music teachers.
“The Planning Committee takes recommendations from the administrative team, so they came to us after consulting with musical educators as well as other educators and each other and came with this recommendation,” she said. “We are not the experts. We take the information and synthesize it along with our experts and make our best recommendation for the district and that is our process with any subject.”
BOE member Seth Klaskin thanked all of those who spoke out that evening, but emphasized that music education is very important to the BOE.
“What I would like to offer for perspective is that in my over a decade on the BOE I have never felt that the district, the school administrators, or the board have ever done anything on purpose to harm the kids or the community or to detract from education in town,” he said. “We are often faced with difficult or challenging circumstances and as an educational community we come together to try to make the best of circumstances. We have a declining enrollment, we have facilities issues, and we needed to take the difficult step to close a school and to rearrange our grade distribution and...this has some very consequential circumstances for the programing.”