MONROE - A meeting has been planned for people who are concerned about the band program in Monroe schools and the discussion over whether to have three instructors or four at the middle and high schools.
The meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday in the gym at St. Victor School, 1416 20th Avenue. Additional information is available by calling (608) 214-1652 or by e-mail at edit1@tds.net.
Organizer Cindy Blanc said the meeting will be for concerned citizens, parents and students. The meeting isn't organized by the school district, she added.
Blanc described the purpose of the meeting as an "exchange of ideas."
"I think people are concerned," Blanc said. "They're concerned about some of the responses from the school board (in relation to the band program)."
Information will be presented about how a reduction in the number of instructors will impact the district's fifth- through 12th-grade music program, Blanc said.
The district eliminated the position when it made cuts to its 2006-07 budget. A group calling itself Community Helping Instrumental Music Education, or CHIME, formed to solicit donations and fund the fourth position. The group pledged to raise $140,000 to fund the teacher's salary and benefits for three years; after that, the district would have to decide to either fund the position or return to having three instructors.
Blanc said CHIME was a stop-gap measure to fund the position with the intention that the board would fund the position in the future.
"CHIME was a wonderful organization," she said.
The group raised $120,000, which has been used to pay the salary for Dan Henkel, a second instrumental music instructor at Monroe High School. There also are two band instructors at Monroe Middle School.
At its meeting Monday, the school board left open the possibility of a keeping a fourth band director despite a recommendation from Superintendent Larry Brown and the district's administrative team not to add the position to the 2009-10 budget.
Brown said the fourth band instructor is not among the top budgeting priorities for the upcoming school year. He also told the board there will be 27 fewer students in the band program next year, 346 compared to 373. With four instructors, Brown said, Monroe would have an 86.5-to-1 student/teacher ratio in the band department, compared to the average 110.8-to-1 student/teacher ratio throughout the rest of the Badger Conference.
The meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday in the gym at St. Victor School, 1416 20th Avenue. Additional information is available by calling (608) 214-1652 or by e-mail at edit1@tds.net.
Organizer Cindy Blanc said the meeting will be for concerned citizens, parents and students. The meeting isn't organized by the school district, she added.
Blanc described the purpose of the meeting as an "exchange of ideas."
"I think people are concerned," Blanc said. "They're concerned about some of the responses from the school board (in relation to the band program)."
Information will be presented about how a reduction in the number of instructors will impact the district's fifth- through 12th-grade music program, Blanc said.
The district eliminated the position when it made cuts to its 2006-07 budget. A group calling itself Community Helping Instrumental Music Education, or CHIME, formed to solicit donations and fund the fourth position. The group pledged to raise $140,000 to fund the teacher's salary and benefits for three years; after that, the district would have to decide to either fund the position or return to having three instructors.
Blanc said CHIME was a stop-gap measure to fund the position with the intention that the board would fund the position in the future.
"CHIME was a wonderful organization," she said.
The group raised $120,000, which has been used to pay the salary for Dan Henkel, a second instrumental music instructor at Monroe High School. There also are two band instructors at Monroe Middle School.
At its meeting Monday, the school board left open the possibility of a keeping a fourth band director despite a recommendation from Superintendent Larry Brown and the district's administrative team not to add the position to the 2009-10 budget.
Brown said the fourth band instructor is not among the top budgeting priorities for the upcoming school year. He also told the board there will be 27 fewer students in the band program next year, 346 compared to 373. With four instructors, Brown said, Monroe would have an 86.5-to-1 student/teacher ratio in the band department, compared to the average 110.8-to-1 student/teacher ratio throughout the rest of the Badger Conference.