Members of the Board of Education,
I am writing to urge you all to vote in support of continuing the strings program in elementary schools.
I am a parent of a 6th grader at Hamilton Middle School, and I am fortunate to have been able to afford private and group violin lessons outside the school system for my son, since kindergarten. I can not tell you what a huge benefit this has been to him, in terms of teaching him to strive towards a rewarding goal, the joy of working together in a group of other learners, and appreciating the goodness of the arts in a troubled world.
And yet I know that the disadvantaged children in MMSD have no opportunity at all to play a violin or other instrument in elementary school unless the strings program continues.
It is clear to me and all music instructors that if a child starts violin in 6th grade, it is by far more difficult for them and much more likely that they will become frustrated and give up.
Starting in grade 4 will not only help students learn and stay with it, but will be a better use of the precious funds that we do allocate to strings in all grades — a better foundation means better participation and more benefits in the later grades.
My own son did not take strings in 4th and 5th grade, because I felt it was better to give another spot to a family that did not have another means to offer strings to their child. He now participates in 6th grade. I can tell you that with all the other major adjustments of the transition to middle school, starting a stringed instrument from scratch would have added a lot of stress to our family.
Please, please find a way to continue strings in 4th and 5th grades. I have been to enough meetings to know that there are things that could be cut from the budget that are way less important than strings.
Thank you,
Jane Sekulski
PS. If you have never seen the movie “Music of the Heart”, please consider doing so. It is based on a true story, which is documented in the film “Small Wonders”, of a violin program in inner city New York. The documentary is even better.