SCHOOL - Music Inc. Magazine

{MUSICADVOCACY}
MUSICADVOCACYHEROES
Think school
budget cuts are
beyond your
control?
These retailers
are just a
few of the
advocates
saving music
programs
every day.
Here are their
stories and
strategies,
as told to
Music Inc.
GEORGE QUINLAN QUINLAN & FABISH BURR RIDGE, ILL.
Ibelieve parents and school administrators
know music and arts
education has a positive impact
on students. Many are trying to
keep school programs alive as
budget cuts threaten to eliminate
them. But sometimes, the water is
too deep, and cutting a program is the
only solution.
In Illinois alone, our governor
has cut $311 million from the education
budget — a 4.3-percent drop
statewide. Most school districts are
struggling to keep programs and
staffing.
A few years ago, Ridgeland
School District 122 in Oak Lawn,
Ill., was forced to eliminate several
programs, including band. Still, the
high school band director and concerned
parents wanted the kids to
have a musical outlet. They inquired
if a fee-based after-school program
would be an option, and the administration
was receptive. So, beginning
in the 2008–’09 academic year,
we stepped in and provided a band
program for the district.
‘HIRE US TO FIRE US’
We met with the administration
to discuss the dynamics
of how the program would work.
Everyone agreed that the ultimate
goal was to have the program to
keep the band on life support until
a full-time, funded program could
be restored. That’s a key factor: I
stressed to the superintendent
that we wanted him to “hire us so
he could fire us” as soon as a district-funded
program could be
reinstated.
Fortunately, our company has a
long, proud history of providing feebased
programs in private schools.
We also had a long, established relationship
with the school district
before the crisis. This experience
provided credibility to our proposal
and started from a position of trust.
THE TEACHER FACTOR
The key to succeeding with this
type of program — or any music
program, funded or not — is finding
the right teacher. We are very careful
to try to find a perfect match for
each particular situation. In this
case, our teacher is an alumnus of
the school, knows the community,
has a strong desire to see the program
restored and would love to be
offered the position if the band program
is reinstated in the future. She
teaches at a neighboring school all
day and goes to the junior high to
run the after-school program.
During the last 10 years, we have
provided similar programs in other
Chicagoland school districts experiencing
similar emergencies. We are
pleased to report that the band program
in Grayslake District 46 was
restored after our program kept the
band on life support for two years.
Plus, the district was able to hire
not only our teacher but two additional
faculty.
A similar result happened in
East Maine District 63 (Niles)
when not only the band program
was restored but the orchestra program
was too after being eliminated
25 years earlier!
By blending a combination of the
right motive, the right teacher and a
cooperative administration, we have
been able to see a few band programs
through the stormy seas until
a time when the waters were right
for smooth sailing.
OCTOBER 2010 I MUSIC INC. I 51