MONROE - The issue of hiring a fourth band instructor for Monroe schools will get a reprise Monday when the school board offers the public a chance to speak.
The School District of Monroe Board of Education meets at 7:30 p.m. Monday. A public hearing on the band instructor position is scheduled for one hour near the beginning of the meeting. School board meetings are in the District Administrative Center on the third floor of the Monroe Public Library building.
At issue is whether the district should add a fourth band instructor for the Monroe middle and high schools next year. District officials have said adding the fourth position is not a priority. But a group of parents and community members say it's important to keep the position; having just three instructors would compromise the quality of the program.
Mike Shuda is one of those parents. He and Joe Tomasiewicz appeared before the school board in April, asking the board to put the issue on an upcoming agenda so band supporters could present their case.
"I think the band program is a very good program, and it's had very good leadership through the years," Shuda said.
The district has employed four band instructors for the two schools for many years, but the fourth position was cut in spring 2006 because of budget constraints. A group calling itself Community Helping Instrumental Music Education, or CHIME, formed at that time to raise donations to fund the fourth position. CHIME said the additional teacher was vital to maintain the district's high quality of instrumental music instruction. The group vowed to raise $140,000 to pay for the fourth instructor's salary and benefits package for three years.
But now those three years are running out.
In March, Superintendent Larry Brown presented the administrative team's recommendation to leave the position out of the 2009-2010 budget, citing other budget priorities. In April, the school board followed through on two of those priorities by voting to keep a K-5 instructional facilitator position and adding a fifth-grade teacher to even out classroom sizes.
But Shuda said he thinks it's also vital to maintain programs for students entering college. He pointed to other cuts made in 2006, including eliminating the French foreign language program. Band is an important elective for those students who will be applying for colleges.
Shuda said he realizes the district is interested in keeping costs in line, but he supports focusing support on those programs that remain.
"I support containing costs," he said. "But what we have left, we need to support."
The School District of Monroe Board of Education meets at 7:30 p.m. Monday. A public hearing on the band instructor position is scheduled for one hour near the beginning of the meeting. School board meetings are in the District Administrative Center on the third floor of the Monroe Public Library building.
At issue is whether the district should add a fourth band instructor for the Monroe middle and high schools next year. District officials have said adding the fourth position is not a priority. But a group of parents and community members say it's important to keep the position; having just three instructors would compromise the quality of the program.
Mike Shuda is one of those parents. He and Joe Tomasiewicz appeared before the school board in April, asking the board to put the issue on an upcoming agenda so band supporters could present their case.
"I think the band program is a very good program, and it's had very good leadership through the years," Shuda said.
The district has employed four band instructors for the two schools for many years, but the fourth position was cut in spring 2006 because of budget constraints. A group calling itself Community Helping Instrumental Music Education, or CHIME, formed at that time to raise donations to fund the fourth position. CHIME said the additional teacher was vital to maintain the district's high quality of instrumental music instruction. The group vowed to raise $140,000 to pay for the fourth instructor's salary and benefits package for three years.
But now those three years are running out.
In March, Superintendent Larry Brown presented the administrative team's recommendation to leave the position out of the 2009-2010 budget, citing other budget priorities. In April, the school board followed through on two of those priorities by voting to keep a K-5 instructional facilitator position and adding a fifth-grade teacher to even out classroom sizes.
But Shuda said he thinks it's also vital to maintain programs for students entering college. He pointed to other cuts made in 2006, including eliminating the French foreign language program. Band is an important elective for those students who will be applying for colleges.
Shuda said he realizes the district is interested in keeping costs in line, but he supports focusing support on those programs that remain.
"I support containing costs," he said. "But what we have left, we need to support."