Members of the award-winning and internationally acclaimed Live
Oak High Emerald Regime marching band and their parents, band
alumni and community supporters are in an uproar over Director Jeff
Wilson
’s ultimatum to the Morgan Hill School District.
Members of the award-winning and internationally acclaimed Live Oak High Emerald Regime marching band and their parents, band alumni and community supporters are in an uproar over Director Jeff Wilson’s ultimatum to the Morgan Hill School District.
During an emergency meeting of the band’s booster club Wednesday night, district officials were urged to accept Wilson’s terms and “save” the Emerald Regime.
Emotion was running high as supporters alternately showed support for Wilson with roaring applause, laughed derisively at statements from district officials and murmured sympathetically as some band students were moved to tears as they spoke of Wilson.
Some booster members called for respectfulness and control as the crowd of more than 100 packed into the Live Oak library made it clear that the high school music program is very important to them and to the community.
Live Oak Principal Nancy Serigstad, Superintendent Carolyn McKennan, Assistant Superintendent Denise Tate, Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers President Mary Alice Callahan and School Board Trustees Mike Hickey, George Panos and Shellé Thomas attended the meeting.
Sophomore band member Devin McCutchen, who plays a trumpet in the band, was at Wednesday’s meeting with a petition in hand, signed by more than 300 students and others, to show to McKennan.
The petition was the result, he said, of just a few hours’ work.
“This was something we put together quickly, at the end of the day,” he said. “And so many people wanted to sign it.”
Other members of the award-winning Emerald Regime also attended the meeting, easily identifiable in their black and neon green band shirts, and they were not reluctant to step up and speak in support of their director.
“If we lose Mr. Wilson as a director, we not only lose a good director, we lose some of the best students at Live Oak,” said band member Natasha Price. “We are the cream of the crop of Live Oak, and if we lose Mr. Wilson, many of us will go on to other schools … Of all my teachers, I have learned the most from him. I told all of my teachers about this meeting tonight. I don’t see any of them here. What kind of support is that for your school?”
District and Live Oak support for the music program is only one of the issues raised at the meeting. The overriding concern was for Wilson’s future with the band.
“Jeff Wilson has not been fired,” Serigstad said Wednesday before the meeting.
He was one of more than 100 teachers in the district to receive a termination notice before March 15, but, Serigstad said, his notice was rescinded.
Wilson, who has been at Live Oak for five years, told supporters he had received an offer from another school, that this school proposed to build the entire music program, k-12, around him. He has prepared his resignation from Live Oak, but has not handed it in, just as he has given the other school a verbal agreement, but has not signed a contract, he said.
“What if you take the other job?” Tate, who is in charge of human resources for the district asked Wilson at the meeting. “Would you be willing to work with another band director during a transition time?”
He would help to make the transition a smooth one, Wilson said, possibly working with the Emerald Regime in the evening until the new director is able to take over.
Serigstad, who met with the executive board of the band boosters before the Wednesday night meeting, when asked if she would cooperate with Wilson, said she could not negotiate a contract for an individual teacher.
“I suggest you meet with Mary Alice Callahan (president of the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers) and see where you stand,” she said to Wilson. “This is a very difficult time for all of us, and, in terms of next year’s marching season, time is ticking away.”
Serigstad said she is committed to the music program and would be willing to talk with Wilson about structuring the program.
“I know the talents of Jeff Wilson, he’s done an incredible job,” she said. “I am an advocate of band, and I want to see us develop a comprehensive music program.”
Wilson said his proposal to the district was a counter to the offer from the other school. Because many at the meeting were unaware of what his proposal contained, he outlined the basics.
“The district has said it wants a comprehensive music program; that requires more than one teacher,” he said. “I also want to see PE credit for kids who do marching band. I’m not going to be a choir director. I’ve been asked to teach a history of rock and roll, to teach guitar, to lead the jazz band. No, I’m not going to do it.”
In his proposal, Wilson asked the district and administration to find someone else to lead the jazz band and orchestra or eliminate them. He also asked that an administrator be assigned to the band for all school activities, competitions and trips, and that both middle schools will “allow time and venue” for a middle school music program.
He also he wants to see the district adopt a program that would allow him to focus on the marching band.
“I want to make this a world-class program,” he said. “Seeing this band, year after year, as a AA finalist, this is not what I want to spend my career doing. Mike Rubino (former Emerald Regime director) taught me, if you’re going to do it at all, do it right.”
Callahan said Thursday she had read Wilson’s proposal and discussed it with him.
“This morning, I explained to him that the union has a clause that allows for exceptions,” she said. “In terms of his schedule, we would be happy to work with him.”
She also said she advised him to meet with Serigstad and Murphy Principal Rhoda Wolfskehl to discuss the flexibility of the schedules for students at their schools.
Wilson’s proposal calls for him to hold Tuesday/Thursday evening band classes.
“I think there are issues that the district will have with supervision of kids,” Callahan said.
In years past, the band has performed in Germany, France, Switzerland and China. Their two most recent trip was on a Caribbean cruise in April, performing many times on the journey. A trip to Spain had been planned for April 2002, but was postponed due to the Sept. 11 tragedy. This year, again the parents and administrators were uncomfortable with the students traveling to Europe and canceled the trip, deciding instead on the cruise.
