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Parent Groups May Cause California School District to Change Tune

Posted on: Wednesday, 7 September 2005, 00:00 CDT

Sep. 5--Fourth-grade classrooms may resound with music once more in the Mt. Diablo school district, thanks to parent fund-raising efforts.

Trustees are expected to give administrators the go-ahead on Tuesday -- the night before school starts -- to hire 2.4 full-time music teachers and resurrect the popular instrumental music program cut last year.

The eleventh-hour save comes courtesy of the districtwide Parent Action Coalition for Education and Walnut Acres Elementary's "Save the 4th." Together, they raised $124,000 -- enough to bring weekly instrumental instruction to every musically inclined fourth-grader from Bay Point to Walnut Creek.

"We're just thrilled," said Kristin Bengtson, a Foothill Middle School parent and coalition board member. "We hope this will be a catalyst throughout the district to maintain instrumental music."

The revived music program is smaller than last year -- instrument selection is limited, the length of lesson time halved and the performance schedule modified, said district curriculum director Linda Rondeau.

But it is a significant improvement over the previous plan of no music at all.

After a winter filled with parent and student protests, Mt. Diablo's school board narrowly approved a cost-cutting plan that eliminated fourth-grade instrumental music for 2005-06. And controversy flared anew last spring when those layoffs claimed a beloved high school choral music teacher. In his three years at Concord High, Christian Emigh's award-winning choral program had doubled enrollment and garnered medals.

District spokeswoman Sue Berg said the board action should return Emigh to Concord High and move other teachers into new fourth-grade slots.

"It's not at the level (of hours) we want, but it's an opportunity to provide every fourth-grader some music," said superintendent Gary McHenry. "This is the kind of parent and community support we need to make this a great school district."

Parents and children spent months fund-raising -- ringing doorbells, holding concerts and hawking bright blue "Music for All" wristbands. Local businesses joined in the effort.

"This made a statement -- we want this for our children," said Joan Miller, the Walnut Creek parent who launched "Save the 4th."

"But I get real tired of music being the low man on the totem pole (during budget cuts)."

Community support keeps music programs thriving in other, much smaller school districts. It's more challenging, Bengtson noted, to bring parents together in a district spread over 55 schools and seven cities and towns.

"This effort has kept music alive and shown that, despite everything, the potential exists for this district to work together toward common goals," she said. "It takes lots of small steps to bring about significant change. We should all be proud that we had the vision to take the first one."

IF YOU GO: The Mt. Diablo school board will meet Sept. 6 at 6:30 p.m., 1936 Carlotta Drive, Concord.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

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Source: Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)

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