Tom Schilt and Randy Sievert announced their retirements Monday. Schilt announced his retirement to a crowd of about 60 band supporters at an informational meeting Monday in the gym of St. Victor school. The parochial school provided the meeting space, but does not have a stance on the band issue, said St. Victor music teacher Cindy Blanc, who helped organize the meeting.
Schilt said after much deliberation, he felt the time was right to retire. He planned to tell his students Monday, but a bomb threat at Monroe High School forced students to evacuate to nearby Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy. He rounded up students there to inform them of his pending retirement. Later, he turned in his resignation letter to MHS Principal Mark Burandt.
Randy Sievert, a Monroe Middle School band instructor, also announced his retirement Monday. Schilt said the timing of the retirements was coincidental.
Sievert has been with the district since fall 1974, with Schilt coming in January 1975.
School administration announced last week it did not recommend reinstating the fourth band position for next year. The position was cut due to budget constraints in the spring of 2006.
At that time, a group calling itself Community Helping Instrumental Music Education, or CHIME, formed to solicit donations to fund the fourth position, saying the additional teacher was critical to keeping the high quality of instrumental instruction at MHS. The group pledged to raise $140,000 to fund the position's salary and benefits for three years; after that, the district would have to decide to fund the position or return to three instructors. 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.
Sievert and Randy Schneeberger are band instructors at Monroe Middle School.
Earlier this month, the school board issued a nonrenewal notice to Henkel in preparation for the possibility the position won't be reinstated.
Last week, Superintendent Larry Brown presented the administrative team's recommendation to leave the position out of the 2009-2010 budget, citing other budget priorities. Among those priorities are keeping a K-5 instructional facilitator position; adding a fifth-grade teaching position; and adding Gifted and Talented staff at each school building. Story link
Brown also cited preliminary registration numbers showing there will be 346 students in the band program next year, down from 373 this year. That would give Monroe a 86.5-to-1 student/teacher ratio in the band program, compared to 110.18-to-1 average throughout the Badger Conference.
But Henkel said new numbers, just tabulated Monday, actually show an increase in band numbers. Next year's sixth-graders have not registered, but assuming 94 sign up, an average for recent years, there will be 235 students at the middle school alone.
That would mean a student-teacher ratio of 117.5:1 with four instructors, or 166.7:1 with three instructors. Schilt and Henkel said losing the fourth position will mean reduced services for students. The most notable cut will be to private lessons in school, which make band accessible to all students, regardless of financial circumstances, and helps create successful band students.
"We don't believe instrumental music should be only for those who have money to pay for private lessons," Henkel said.
The community ultimately will pay the price, Henkel said, as MHS band students perform throughout the community. The school marching band also was cut as a result of budget constraints, and many people complained when the school pep band rode in a float as part of the Cheese Days parade instead of marching, he said.
Information sheets at Monday's meeting cited figures that, in light of Schilt's and Sievert's retirements, the district can afford to hire four instructors for less than the cost of three more experienced teachers. "It frees up a lot of money," Henkel said of the retirements.
The salaries for Schilt, Sievert and Schneeberger, the other MMS band instructor, totaled $171, 674 for this school year. The cost of keeping Henkel along with Schneeberger for 2009-2010 would be $92,482. That leaves just more than $79,000 to pay two additional instructors. The base starting salary for a teacher is $30,193, or $60,386 for two individuals, according to the information sheet.
Figures do not include the cost of benefits.
Officials from the Monroe School District did not speak at the meeting. Blanc said she asked Schilt and Henkel to present band numbers and speak at the meeting because of their expertise with the program.
The decision on the band position is part of the district's overall budget discussion. There is no specific date set to discuss the position.
Audience members responded with a handful of questions about how best to make the point that the fourth position is needed, and put a "face" on the band program for school board members and others.
Schilt encouraged the audience to take the next step by communicating with school board members and administration.
"Communicate in a positive way," he said.