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02/03/2021 07:15 AMAs the Board of Education (BOE) moves toward a final budget recommendation, residents are rallying against the reduction of a full time music teacher at Adams Middle School. The school administration said the decision is a response to declining enrollment while some residents say that the cut will harm Guilford’s storied music program.
Guilford Superintendent of Schools Dr. Paul Freeman said that the choice was made to “right-size the music staffing,” referencing a similar reduction made at Baldwin Middle School also due to reduced enrollment.
The BOE discussed the proposed budget, which currently proposes a 1.49 percent overall increase, including the music teacher position on Feb. 1 when its agenda allowed it to “act on” it, but declined to vote, with BOE Chair Katie Balestracci citing “a number of things that we may want to continue to think about and deliberate about” as reason for the delay.
Ballestracci specifically noted the very high level of interest in the community in the music teacher position at the beginning of that meeting, among other things.
“We are fully in support of the quality of this music program, and are in full recognition of what a music program can offer students. That is actually not the question,” Ballestraci said. “The question is, I think that has been raised, does this one position impact that quality at all?”
Currently Adams has 3.4 full time music positions. Freeman said that serves about 300 students who take part in the music program. By comparison, Guilford High School has 2.6 music instructors teaching 500 students, and Baldwin fields 2.3 positions for 450 students.
The 30 percent reduction in teaching staff corresponds to a similar reduction in student population over the last three or four years, according to Freeman, though according to data provided by the State Department of Education, Adams has lost about 21 percent of its enrollment since 2017.
Freeman said the music teacher loss was not a “programmatic reduction,” and and will not result in the elimination of any class or program offerings at Adams.
“This budget does not sacrifice programming or students or our support of students,” he said.
At public hearings last week, community members spoke passionately about not losing the teaching position, arguing that music instruction is a vital part of the Guilford school community fabric and that a reduction in teaching staff will hamper student’s ability to pursue their music education.
An online petition calling on the BOE to keep the position had more than 1,800 signatures as of earlier this week, and the creator of that petition, GHS student Taig Egan said that at least 1,000 of those signatures came from within the Guilford community.
“That’s not chopped liver,” Egan said.
Among the residents who spoke out to the BOE was Christine Dokko, who made the point that cutting public music instruction most directly affects poorer members of the community who can’t afford to employ private tutors or take outside lessons.
“Even if total class time remains the same, there will be less attention paid to each student as classes grow larger,” Dokko said. “I believe our music program is so special because it is high quality and inclusive...and I believe we’ve been able to do that because of amazing teachers who have lots of time with the students.”
Leila Mustakos, who said she was a mother of a Guilford student as well as a music teacher in another district, said that she feared the elimination of one position was likely to “trickle down and trickle up.”
“The music staff in Guilford work around the clock—I know this for a fact. They put in rehearsals hours before school, after school, during their lunch period. There is no possible way the reduction of a full time teacher will not affect these things,” she said.
Overall, the district is eliminating 1.2 full time positions, according to Freeman, who has emphasized that the budget this year aims to be one of the most “conservative” ever in Guilford in response to economic hardships caused by the pandemic.
Jennifer Sills Yoxall, who identified herself as the daughter of a longtime Guilford music teacher and a music teacher herself, wrote a letter to the BOE and Freeman specifically emphasizing the importance of specialists in music as opposed to other disciplines.
“Guilford’s music program is superlative because we have always sought to hire specialists who excel not only in wind or string instruments (or vocal music) but also, in working with the age they are hired to teach. Their positions are interchangeable only if you are willing to settle for mediocrity,” she wrote.
Freeman and the BOE all expressed sympathy for the issues raised by people in the community, with Freeman specifically expressing gratitude for just how engaged people were in the music program and budget process as a whole.
“I’ve never walked away from a conversation feeling so good after so many people disagreed with me,” he said. “The fact is, I walked away feeling there was not a lot of disagreement.”
But he repeatedly emphasized that the financial realities of the pandemic, combined with the loss of students in Guilford schools, means that the “hard choice” of cutting a music teacher was both necessary, and would not prevent the district from offering comprehensive music education with a commitment to recognizing specialists, sharing teachers between buildings.
Other school staff, including Adams Principal Michael Reagan and current GHS Assistant Principal and former music director Kevin Buno said they felt the music department would work across the board to ensure continuity and excellence to students.
“I feel equally as confident that we will be able to do the same moving forward looking at those programs,” Reagan said.
“As we continue to move through this pandemic we will continue to do so thoughtfully and carefully,” Freeman said. “When we brought this recommendation forward to the BOE, we did so knowing that it was going to be an emotional recommendation. We did so knowing this town takes an enormous amount of pride in its music program.
“This recommendation does not sacrifice or compromise that pride,” he added.