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Music struggles for money in Cache public schools By
Natalie Larson
It looks like a field trip picnic in the Logan High School orchestra room at lunchtime. The floor is littered with brown paper bags and adolescents lounge on chairs and worn floral print couches. "Miss Hen, could I use the practice room for a half-hour after seminary?" one student asks orchestra director Karin Hendricks. Without blinking at the inconvenience of being interrupted in the middle of her lunch, Hendricks arranges it. The next student who enters presents Hendricks with a compact disc of music by Rachmaninoff. It's a thank-you present for the extra help she gave him on the piece he performed in the concert the previous night. Several others enter and exit before the break is over. Hendricks has to hurry to finish her rice cake with peanut butter and raisins before class starts. "I don't mind," Hendricks said. "It's what I love to do. I could never spend enough time with these students. It doesn't feel like work." Hendricks said she doesn't worry about her program getting cut, "thank goodness." "Music makes life rich," said the assistant band director for Mountain Crest High School, Will Francis, who is in his first year teaching at the high school level. "If we forget how to enjoy music, then we forget who we are. Even in its worst circumstances, humans hang on to music. It's as important to our survival as math or science." However, music programs depend on funding, and according to a General Accounting Office report issued Sept. 8, 2000, U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd and U.S. Rep. George Miller said this decade has been characterized by tightened school budgets. In their reports, they addressed issues about the use of commercial activities to help supplement program budgets, like those used at several Cache Valley schools as fund raisers, as being potentially detrimental to a school"s learning environment. This could mean programs would have to rely on budgeted money from the school system. County school directors aren't that lucky, according to Richard Kline, Sky View High School orchestra director. The school gets its funding primarily from the Cache County School District, and Kline said that amount is inadequate. Kline has been the director for seven years. When he started there were only 11 students in the orchestra. Now that number has grown to 44, but Kline said the funding is not meeting the students' needs. "I'm thrilled to be working with the Cache County School District. It's a wonderful district," Kline said. "I just wish they'd get their priorities in order." "I would like to see a culture shift," Kline said. "People think the vicarious thrills they get from watching TV are more valuable than the things children will carry through their lives." The instruments for the Sky View orchestra are in dire need of replacement, Kline said. He said there are "50-year-old instruments that should be condemned." The instruments are scratched and worn, in need of more than a new coat of varnish. Watching the orchestra tune before they practice for the school"s production of "South Pacific," it is obvious which students had to rent their instruments from the school. They struggle with loose strings more than the notes. "We need a big push of cash in the arts to get the kind of quality the students deserve. We have some wonderful players," Kline said. This doesn't look likely with the current national trends. In an article from the Hermes Database, Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett announced on June 29, 2000 that in 2001-2002 education authorities would be expected to delegate at least 85% of their budgets to schools, an increase on this year's requirement of 80%, but spending per pupil on administration would be expected to fall further. But the importance of music programs makes them essential for schools, according to Kline. Kline said students in the arts go on to build successful careers and be contributing members of the community. There aren't as many students who make it big with athletics in Cache Valley. Marti Watterson, a senior at Sky View, is the principle cellist for the orchestra. She said she doesn't plan on going into music professionally, but she has learned skills from orchestra that will help her throughout her life. "I've learned patience and hard work," Watterson said. "I've gotten to know more people and gotten a better appreciation of music." Watterson said she has learned to stick with things and to not give up. "If I work hard, I can do anything I want to do," Watterson said. The new band director for Sky View, Brad Shafer, said he didn't fear too much for his program. Their money comes more from student fees, but he said he would like to see more money come from the district. Shafer said he'd like to see the numbers increase, but it is difficult for students to fit it into their schedules with only five class hours on the trimester program. "Band is an important part of the high school experience. It gives students the experience of being able to create. It's something for kids to work for that doesn't require tennis shoes. It lets them be part of something successful. It helps them learn to solve problems," Shafer said. Sara Lloyd, a junior at Sky View and the concert master violinist, said the music program has helped her a lot in school because it "relieves the everyday stress to do something you love." Lloyd said she plans to go on and major in piano performance. Hendricks said LHS has so many music students because of the introductory programs in the elementary schools. "The teachers there make it something where the students feel a sense of accomplishment," Hendricks said. There is also a strong tradition for the orchestra at LHS, Hendricks said. It receives funding through the school budget, which is made better by grants from the Mary Eccles Caine Foundation and Campbell Scientific. "It makes it possible," Hendricks said. The program was able to buy new music stands, instruments and music this year, Hendricks said. This is in addition to being housed in a well-established facility. Hendricks said the LHS program is one of the top in the state. The three orchestras practice in an acoustically designed main room, enjoy a broad music library and have separate practice rooms. Previous teaching positions in Idaho weren't as cushy, Hendricks said. She taught for five years at a school there before coming to LHS. "There was a constant fear of having our program cut. There was not enough money, students or community interest. Here parents are so supportive of music, the students love it so much and I have no real fear," Hendricks said. In a high school where overfilled classrooms are a chief concern, Hendricks said it would be crazy for the administration to reduce the music programs, which have about 40 students per class. "We're very fortunate at Logan High to have the support and the funding," Hendricks said. "There's nowhere I'd rather teach." At Mountain Crest High School, Francis and fill-in co-director Janeile Tams agree that they're not worried about being cut, but they do worry about being restricted with a lack of district funding. Tams, a retired band instructor who taught for 37 years and is filling in for Sharon Rohrer while she is on maternity leave, said 42 students are in the high school program, but she hopes the numbers will increase due to the large numbers of students in band programs in the middle schools. There are 86 orchestra students in eighth grade and 58 in the ninth-grade classes. "It's a matter of encouraging kids to stick with it," Tams said. "I just hope we can get good kids to stay in." Both directors said students have a hard time fitting music into their five-hour schedule blocks. They also said it has been difficult because there have been several changes with directors over the past few years. Shafer said he would like more interaction between the music programs in the valley. Currently, Francis is working with the annual Honor Band in which junior high and middle school bands combine 300 students for a concert the third weekend in March. This is one of the only efforts being made for the high schools to work together. Each program stands on its own. Each has its problems and strengths. Each has its own funding, or lack thereof. But they all agreed on one point -- Cache Valley isn't ready to give up its arts programs.
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