MARYSVILLE Some parents say the Marysville School District has struck a sour note by lumping most music classes into one of the largest smaller learning communities high schools are shifting to next fall.
Most high schools will be broken into 400-student academies focused on certain academic areas, but one 1,200-student school will be created, called the Pathways of Choice. The district responded with a letter on its Web site homepage after some parents were alarmed at schedules limiting some music classes to the first two hours of school for students in the smaller learning communities, while Pathways students can take those classes all day.
Current plans are for students to stay in their own academy or SLC except for the first hour of school when they are allowed to crossover to another SLC to take a course not offered in theirs. These are now called Array Classes and they would be offered during a early zero hour and the first period.
Other options like marching band would be held after school, just like sports and other activities and would be open to students who are not taking any other music classes. A hitch is that the M-P teachers want to keep the Array period for only sophomores and upperclassmen to maintain program cohesiveness. The district letter to band parents limits jazz band classes to Pathways students, and offers symphonic/concert band to other SLC students only during zero hour or Array periods, and restricts wind ensemble to them during Array period. Pathways students will be able to take those courses anytime they are offered during the day.
Thats got Beth Husted upset. Her 14-year-old daughter Sarah is an eighth-grader at Marysville Junior High School and will be attending the new setup next year. She plays French horn, and her mother is upset that her musical options might be limited.
If she doesnt get into Pathways, shes not going to get to play her instrument, Husted said. So heres a group of kids who love music, who enjoy it, and now because its luck of the draw what small school you get into.
Husted acknowledged that French horn is not a jazz instrument and that other music courses will be offered during the before-school hours. But getting Sarah up on-time is a daily challenge and the sleepyhead just cant do one or two hours early, according to her mom.
She just said, I cant do the mornings, Husted quoted, adding that an M-P music teacher told her that once a student drops a music class its a slim chance they will resume their learning. Its not something they will put down and pick up again.
Like many critics of the SLC shift, Husted said a lack of communication has hurt parents. She attended an open house in February and talked to assistant superintendent Gail Miller and M-P principal Tracy Suchan Toothaker and both told her ninth-graders will be able to take band and choir classes. It didnt help that the M-P principal was out sick for an entire month after having her appendix removed, hampering communication, but Husted was surprised when her daughter came home with a letter saying ninth-graders wont be able to take Array classes next year.
They are telling me that if my daughter wants to play band, she has to take it zero hour, Husted said, recounting a litany of grievances. One, I was lied to. Two, its the whole frustration of how little theyve worked with parents. They didnt involve the community.
Miller said like much of the SLC plans, things are in flux. A big problem is the perception among some parents that students have lots of choices now that they really dont have, and the fear that there will be less options with SLCs.
The big trade off that people are seeing is that their kids dont have the choice of this huge range of electives that they think they have, Miller noted. Are there some tradeoffs with that? Yes and the music classes show us the challenge of that.
As students make their choices and receive their school assignments administrators will be able to see how things are going, said Miller, who wrote the band letter along with Toothaker.
We have had a couple of parents who have called us and said that wouldnt work for them, Miller said. So we continue to problem solve this piece. Certainly its not our intention to have the arts go away.