Firma la petición de BFoM para revertir los cortes de música

Traducción al español de BFoM Petition on Change.Org – BSD: Garantía de instrucción de música de calidad para todos los estudiantes, todos los días. Robin Carr inició esta petición al Superintendente Grotting, a los miembros de la Junta Escolar y a los Administradores del Distrito.  Le invitamos a unirse a nosotros para firmar la petición aquí:

https://www.change.org/p/petition-to-superintendent-grotting-school-board-members-and-district-administrators-save-music-in-beaverton-middle-schools

Si usted es un estudiante o padre actual o futuro de BSD, tenga en cuenta la escuela de su vecindario en el área de comentarios cuando firme. Los alumnos de BSD, la comunidad u otras conexiones, también escriban una nota en el área de comentarios.

Los abajo firmantes apoyamos una educación completa que incluye instrucción de música de calidad K-12 garantizada a todos los estudiantes en el Distrito Escolar de Beaverton. Estamos solicitando al distrito que:

• Reincorpore de inmediato las posiciones de recorte de música en Cedar Park, Five Oaks & Whitford y ofrezca un plan de estudios de coro en todas las escuelas intermedias para septiembre de 2019.

• Garantizar el currículo diario de banda y coro y directores a tiempo completo en todas las escuelas intermedias para el 2020-21.

• Crear y llenar un puesto de administrador de música a tiempo completo para 2020-21.

• Implementar las recomendaciones del BSD 2014 Music Task Force en su totalidad.

Antecedentes: El 25 de junio, el Distrito Escolar de Beaverton anunció recortes severos e inesperados a los programas de música en 3 de las 8 escuelas secundarias del vecindario y la posición del Coordinador de Bellas Artes del distrito se redujo a la mitad. Esto sucedió después de meses de reuniones de presupuesto público en las que estuvieron presentes docenas de defensores de la música y nunca se mencionaron cortes específicos a la música. Es una sorpresa completa, sin un plan en marcha para restaurar los programas, y viene después de años de fallas en la implementación completa de las recomendaciones del 2014 BSD Music Task Force.

Los recortes de personal y programación de Cedar Park Band, Cedar Park Choir, Five Oaks Band y Whitford Band serán devastadores para esos programas. La experiencia del estudiante se verá dramáticamente impactada al pasar de las clases de música diarias a días alternos y reducirá el tiempo de instrucción en más de 90 minutos por semana. Los directores se ubicarán en dos escuelas y serán responsables de enseñar hasta el doble de estudiantes, con hasta la mitad del tiempo en el asiento y sin una compensación o apoyo adicional significativo. Nuestras escuelas tendrán dificultades para retener a los directores de calidad en estas condiciones. Sin una experiencia exitosa, los estudiantes pueden abandonar la escuela antes de llegar a la secundaria, y los programas apreciados de música de la escuela secundaria seran afectados.

El Informe de estado de la música de 2013 (escrito por John Benham y patrocinado por Beaverton Friends of Music) estableció la necesidad de un administrador de música. Esta misma necesidad fue identificada por la propia Music Task Force del BSD 2014. El distrito permitió solo a un Maestro en Asignación Especial con la promesa de actualizarlo a Administrador en unos pocos años, luego extendió los deberes a todas las Bellas Artes en el 2015, y Ahora el post se ha reducido a la mitad. Este recorte tiene un gran impacto en el programa de música K-12 al reducir la supervisión y quitar una línea de vida de soporte para programas justo cuando se están recuperando de un recorte masivo. El puesto de Coordinador de Bellas Artes (TOSA) ya estaba encargado de apoyar a 140 maestros en las 53 escuelas de vecindario de BSD, y ahora se espera que complete el mismo trabajo en la mitad del tiempo sin una compensación o apoyo adicional significativo.

Recortes aleatorios como este tuvieron lugar en todo el distrito en 2012, y luego nuevamente en 2015 en Mountain View. Después de ese corte, la comunidad de Mountain View trabajó incansablemente durante 4 años para ver a su director regresar a tiempo completo. Este año, finalmente sucedió, pero el fondo ahora está cayendo en otras 3 escuelas, incluida Whitford, donde el 30% de los estudiantes se inscribieron en la banda el año pasado. Escuchó bien, el distrito está * agregando * personal de música en algunas escuelas mientras se lo quita a otras. ¿Qué niños ganan y qué niños pierden? Todo depende de donde vivan. Esto no es equitativo.

Beaverton Friends of Music ha pasado los últimos siete años trabajando con todos los niveles de la administración del distrito y la Junta Escolar para comunicar nuestros valores y ofrecer soluciones a la inequidad en los programas de música existentes. Otros distritos escolares en todo el estado han encontrado soluciones exitosas y equitativas para administrar la programación de cursos, la dotación de personal y la supervisión del programa, pero los estudiantes en Beaverton continúan sufriendo debido a la falta de compromiso para implementar las propias recomendaciones del Equipo de Tareas de Música del Distrito durante varios años de compromiso y apoyo de la comunidad. Ahora estamos pasando de 6 de 8 escuelas secundarias con banda diaria a 3 de 8 con banda diaria, y vamos de 2 de 8 escuelas secundarias con coro diario a solo una con coro diario. Tres de nuestras escuelas intermedias aún no tienen absolutamente NINGÚN CORO ofrecido. Esto es inaceptable.

La Junta Escolar y el Superintendente han sido muy conscientes de las desigualdades persistentes y aún no han podido corregir el curso. Los cortes sin sentido de esta semana demuestran que el problema se está ignorando sistemáticamente. El Plan Estratégico de BSD se compromete a esperar excelencia, abrazar la equidad, innovar y colaborar. Los líderes del distrito deben ser responsables por nuestra comunidad. No más excusas. No más esperas. No más robar la educación musical de nuestros hijos. Estamos invertidos en nuestras escuelas, y esperamos liderazgo.

Beaverton Friends of Music – BFoM (Amigos de la música de Beaverton)

Traducción al español y más información disponible en: https://beavertonfriendsofmusic.org

Sign BFoM’s Petition to Reverse Music Cuts

Beaverton Friends of Music has created a public petition to ask BSD Superintendent Grotting, School Board Members, and District Administrators to do the following:

  • Immediately reinstate the cut music positions at Cedar Park, Five Oaks & Whitford, and offer choir curriculum at all middle schools by September 2019.
  • Guarantee daily band and choir curriculum and full time directors at all middle schools by 2020-21.
  • Create and fill a full time Music Administrator position by 2020-21.
  • Implement the recommendations of the 2014 BSD Music Task Force in full

Please join us in signing the petition and share it with your community:

https://www.change.org/p/petition-to-superintendent-grotting-school-board-members-and-district-administrators-save-music-in-beaverton-middle-schools

If you are a current or future BSD student or parent please make sure to note your neighborhood school in the comment area when you sign. BSD alumni, community, or other connections please make a note in the comment area, as well.

A printable form of the petition is linked below with instructions for where to turn it in.  Students can help gather signatures by canvassing your neighbors or local businesses.

BFoM Petition July, 2019

ACTION MEETING To Save Music In Our Schools

*** Please post and circulate widely ***

ACTION MEETING To Save Music in Our Schools
Hosted by Beaverton Friends of Music

*Monday* July 1st & July 8th • 7-8:30pm
Fire Station 65 (3425 SW 103rd Ave, 97007)

This week Beaverton School District announced severe and unexpected cuts to music programs at 3 of our 8 neighborhood middle schools.  This is happening after months of public budget meetings where specific cuts to music were never mentioned. It is a complete surprise with no plan in place to restore the programs.

While the district administration and school board are aware our community expects daily band and choir available to every student at all middle schools, we’re now going from 6 of 8 middle schools with daily band to 3 of 8 with daily band, and we’re going from 2 of 8 middle schools with daily choir down to only 1 with daily choir.  Three of our middle schools still have absolutely NO CHOIR offered. The other significant cut is the district Fine Arts coordinator position — essential to program oversight and support, especially in dramatic situations like this.  We’ve been asking for years for this position to be made a full administrator and it’s been cut in half. Right now, music directors are being transferred around as they’re bumped from their positions. Making matters more confusing, there will be music staffing increases at 2 of the schools that are not experiencing cuts. This doesn’t make sense.

Random cuts like this took place around the district in 2012 and then again in 2015 at Mountain View.  After that cut, the Mountain View community worked tirelessly for 4 years to see their director returned to full-time. This year, it’s finally happened, but the bottom is now falling out at 3 other schools including Whitford, where 30% of students were enrolled in band last year. You heard that right – the district is *adding* music staff at some schools while taking it away at others.  Which kids win and which kids lose?  It all depends on where they happen to live. This is not equitable.

Beaverton Friends of Music has spent the last 7 years working with every level of district administration and the School Board to communicate our values and offer solutions to the inequity in the existing music programs. This week’s senseless cuts prove the problem is being systematically ignored. District leaders must be held accountable by our community.  No more excuses.  No more waiting.  No more stealing music education from our kids.  We are invested in our schools, and we expect Leadership.

Time is of the essence – we must act quickly to fix this situation before kids start losing out and permanent damage is done to our schools.  Due to the July 4th holiday, BFoM is planning two action meetings in hopes of reaching the largest number of people on short notice. Please plan to attend one or both meetings, and please share this message with 2 friends:

ACTION MEETING To Save Music in Our Schools
Hosted by Beaverton Friends of Music 

*Monday* July 1st & July 8th • 7-8:30pm
Fire Station 65 (3425 SW 103rd Ave, 97007)

Learn more at www.beavertonfriendsofmusic.org

Oregon Crusaders Annual Dinner and Auction

On Saturday May 7th, we’ll be hosting the Oregon Crusaders annual dinner and auction at the beautiful MAC Club in Portland. We’ll have a wonderful meal, great entertainment, awesome auction items, and of course every penny goes to OC, one of the largest youth performing arts organizations in the region. We had over 20 colorguard at the WGI championship in Dayton this weekend, another 50 next weekend with the drumline, and then the fun begins as we prepare to take 150 kids in a 12,000 mile summer tour. So needless to say, we welcome and value your support!
The dinner and auction theme this year, “Shaken… Not Stirred.” will provide a lot of Bond-themed fun, and we have trips to New Zealand and Egypt, other west coast adventures including great winery tastings and tours, and even a lamp made from an OC trumpet. You can read more and buy tickets at http://oregoncrusaders.org/2016auction

Focused, Respectful, and Solution-oriented

The members of BFoM, and the MVMS parents we are working with, view *all* district educators and administrators as our allies in ensuring Beaverton students receive a complete education.

It has come to our attention that there is a story circulating about comments supposedly made by “BFoM” to people in Hillsboro related to the cuts and reassignments in the music program at MVMS. While we don’t know the details, we want to make clear that the type of behavior described is completely *not*, nor ever has been, representative or characteristic of BFoM’s positions or methods.

Further, the problems at MVMS are not appropriately construed as a personal issue. Providing quality music instruction at the middle school level is an issue of fundamental equity for all students in all Beaverton schools. We look forward to collaborating with MVMS parents and the administration to resolve the problems with music education at MVMS in the positive and efficient manner that has always characterized BFoM’s advocacy for the entire district.

We therefore encourage music supporters to sign the attached petition, which is solution-oriented and respectful. Acting together and remaining focused on our goal—every day band and choir at every middle school; a band teacher teaching band; a choir teacher teaching choir—we can ensure that every student in Beaverton receives the complete education they deserve.

Petition to Keep Every Day Band & Choir at Mountain View MS

Dear Friends of Music,

As we mentioned the other day, the administration at Mountain View Middle School is planning to cut band and choir by half next school year.  Students at Mountain View Middle School in Beaverton started a petition to keep daily band and choir at their school.  Their parents and neighbors are following up with a positive campaign to ask the Mountain View administration to reconsider the current course of action and find a better solution.  The community petition is due in 10 days and we hope you’ll sign on to support!  

You can print the attached PDF file to sign a hard copy and share with parents and community members, or email your name and we will write your name on a paper copy.   Petitions need to be returned to Robin Carr at actuallycustom@gmail.com by June 18, 2015.

Music cuts at Mountain View MS in Beaverton

Dear Friends of Music,
Music has been ringing through the halls of Beaverton schools more bountifully this year than anyone can remember, and we’ve been truly energized by this great progress. We hate to be the bearers of bad news at a time like this, but we feel it’s our duty to keep you informed about the health of all music programs in the district.
We recently learned that the administration at Mountain View Middle School is planning to cut its band and choir programs *in half* next year.  The band director has been involuntarily transferred to another school and the choir director has been assigned to teach both choir and band next year.  Students will have a shortened music period, fewer electives in general (notoriously known in the education field as a ‘narrowed curriculum’), and will only have access to music education a few times a week.  We probably don’t need to tell you how this will hamper, or even kill, the students’ ability to thrive and gain a complete education in their neighborhood school, nor how it will negatively impact the recently rebounding music programs at Aloha High School, as that school’s main feeder is cut off at the roots.  We shudder at the thought!
BFoM leadership has been gathering information about the situation and has met with stakeholders to formulate collectively the best course of action. We’ve determined this potential educational disaster can be remedied only through informed, unified, and coordinated advocacy from parents within the MVMS community with support from our district-wide collective.
If you are a parent or community member within the Aloha High School feeder area (Chehalem, Cooper Mountain, Errol Hassell, Hazeldale, Kinnaman, Mountain View Middle School, or Aloha High School), you are invited to an emergency meeting to discuss this issue on Monday, June 8th at 6pm in the auditorium at Aloha High School (18550 SW Kinnaman Rd, Aloha, OR 97007).  The meeting is also open to friends in other neighborhoods if you would like to attend to listen and learn more.
Please feel free to forward this message to other parents, students, and community members who may be interested in attending the meeting, or write to us at the e-mail address listed below if you’d like more information.
Thank you,
BFoM Leadership

2015 Beaverton School District School Board Candidate Forum

On Sunday, April 19th, Beaverton Friends of Music sponsored its first BSD School Board Candidate Forum.  The event was well-attended by BFoM members young and old from every corner of the city, including Oregon House District 34 Representative Ken Helm.  We were very pleased that all seven candidates for the board elected to attend.  During the forum, each candidate had an opportunity to address the group, give their background, and say a few words about why they are running for the BSD School Board. The atmosphere was friendly with cookies, tea and juice provided by the music shop and offered a rare opportunity to connect one-to-one around issues import to us.  A BIG thank you to Russ Schmidt of Beaverton Music Services on 1st street for hosting the event.
All BSD School Board candidates run at large and all residents within the boundaries of the Beaverton School District have the opportunity to vote for one candidate in each contested School Board Zone in the upcoming May 19th election.  Here is a link to the Washington Co. Voter’s Pamphlet which includes side-by-side profiles of all the candidates including those for Beaverton School Board here:
Zone 3: Melissa Potter, Eric Simpson
Zone 6: Becky Tymchuk, John Somoza, Daniel Vázquez
Zone 7: Linda Degman, Andrew Beach
 (listed in alphabetical order by last name)

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