MARYSVILLE — What began as a student musical performance became a series of pleas on behalf of music in the Marysville School District.
The 10th Street Middle School Jazz Band performed a number of songs for attendees of the MSD Board of Directors’ April 18 meeting, before band director Nathan Sackman urged the Board to support music programs within the district, in terms that would be echoed by parents, alumni and other community members who had no idea that Sackman planned to express sentiments that mirrored their own.
“As the band’s director, I feel like I have to fight for them,” Sackman said. “Music can be an easy target for budget cuts. I hope you don’t feel that way, with all the successes these students have achieved. These kids aren’t even through their second year of music education and they’re tackling music that many high school kids can’t handle.”
Sackman noted that 15 of his 17 students had received superior solo ensemble scores, and a majority of them earn high grades. He cited studies which concluded that music education improves math performance, increases the likelihood of attending higher education and turns students into well-organized, team-playing, creative problem-solvers.
“Music classes can take 60 students at a time, so you’re actually saving money,” Sackman said.
Almost half a dozen community members had already signed up to speak at that night’s meeting before Sackman made his case. They presented a stack of testimonials from former Marysville music students to the Board, as well as statistics from the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Marysville-Pilchuck High School alum Lakey Malan led the group’s remarks with harsh words for Marysville Getchell High School’s Small Learning Communities, which she asserted limited students’ access to programs such as without clear benefits to their post-graduate lives.
“The reasoning behind telling 14-year-olds they must choose a course of study for a career confuses us,” Malan said. “What is the purpose of a system that the Gates Foundation abandoned in 2006? Math and science are in the tank.”
Mandy Hegr pointed to surrounding school districts with both higher test scores and more support for the arts than Marysville.
“Marysville’s emphasis on academics asks, ‘How intelligent are you?’” Hegr said. “This system relies on test scores and single right answers to questions. The proper question to ask instead is, ‘How are you intelligent?’”
Jennifer Tyner, an M-PHS alum and former choral student with a 14-year-old son in the district, warned against eliminating crossovers between SLCs for music programs, since she sees music as a means of keeping students motivated.
“The Marysville School District has systematically reduced its choirs, from 21 in 2002 to six in 2004, to just 10 or 11 now,” Tyner said. “My son and tens of thousands of other students will never know the joy of choral singing because they can’t get into a choir.”
Although Tyner and Linda Walter questioned the district’s budgeting priorities, by noting that music programs cost far less than the schools’ athletic programs and SLC administration, Nicole Dormaier welcomed the Board to contact their group for a “meaningful dialogue” on the matter.
