Third teacher will be added to teach music education to more
than 2,000 students
Morgan Hill – Elementary school students in the Morgan Hill Unified School District should have a better music program this year, district officials told trustees during their regular meeting Tuesday night.
A third teacher will be hired to work with the two teachers already on board. An offer has already been extended, according to Pat Blanar, the district’s director of curriculum and assessment.
The music program is offered to approximately 2,100 students in fourth through sixth grades. All students receive instruction one day a week.
According to Blanar, the elementary school music program will provide. The instruction will be aligned to state standards, she said.
The district’s budget allocated $135,000 for the elementary music program. Out of this amount comes the cost of the two full-time teachers, any supplies and concert costs, mileage and equipment repair. The salary for the third teacher the district is hiring is funded by the state arts and music block grant, which is an ongoing grant that provides $15 per student or approximately $125,000.
Fourth graders attend a general music class, and fifth and sixth grade students have the choice of participating in band or chorus. The district provides instruments to students who qualify if they choose band and cannot afford an instrument.
Trustee Peter Mandel hopes the district’s efforts will be more successful than last year’s. The district used special reserve money during the 2005-06 school year to contract with a company to provide music instruction, and the contract was terminated in December.
“I am really pleased with the momentum we are seeing now,” Mandel said Tuesday. “I am pleased that we are hiring a third teacher. I hope we’re putting the support structure in place for the program … Last year, the program didn’t go anywhere … the middle schools are down to a handful of kids.”
The elementary music program has been saved from the chopping block several times in the past six years, as district budget cuts left the program hanging by a thread, rescued by band booster programs at the middle schools and Live Oak High.
Fifth and sixth grade students participating in the instrumental band class will use an instruction book and an accompanying CD, she said.
“That way, when they practice it home, it will be as if they have the whole band with them,” she added.
The fifth and sixth grade students will have one 50-minute music class per week, while fourth grade students will receive 30 minutes of general music.
The students will receive grades for their music class for the first time, Blanar said.
“Over the summer, our music instructors worked together to create a curriculum, to align to the standards,” Blanar said.
Trustees expressed concerns about the middle school and high school programs. Live Oak High’s Emerald Regime Marching Band has seen a steady drop in numbers over the years. Trustee Shelle Thomas noted that Sobrato High’s band saw an increase in members this year, its second year, due largely to the efforts of Erik Kalish, director, who also teaches at Martin Murphy Middle School and promotes the Sobrato band to the Murphy band students.
Greg Bergantz, the Emerald Regime’s director, will be able to do the same thing at Britton Middle School this year, trustees noted.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202 or at md****@*************es.com.
