Fund Music Education at Norwin: An Open Letter to the Norwin Administration & School Board

May 16, 2016

The Administration and Board of Education
Norwin School District
North Huntingdon, PA

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:

THANK YOU for your support of music education here at Norwin. Fifteen years ago, shortly before my current Norwin Band freshman was born, I cast about a city I had never visited for a place to raise my young family. From over 500 miles away, how would I choose a community for my children to grow up in, sight unseen?

Music made that choice for me.

Specifically, the national recognition that the Norwin Band brought to this community drew our family to the Norwin School District, and we have never looked back. Surely a community and a school district that valued music education so highly would be a wonderful place for my children to grow and thrive. And so it has been.

Through thick, and increasingly thin, the Norwin administration and school board has been and continues to be excellent stewards of the taxpayers' money. The lights may not stay on as late as they once did, and the lawns of the schools may get a tad shaggier, but it’s worth it to know that my children’s educational experiences have not atrophied.

As I’d expected, each and every member of the music faculty has been stellar. They’re so dedicated to their students, and hold them to such high standards. Mrs. Glover is a perfect example.

The first percussionist in Norwin’s history made the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association All-State ensemble in 2008 under Mrs. Glover’s direction. Since then, Norwin percussionists have made PMEA All-State for the past 8 consecutive years.

A percussionist was the first band member in Norwin’s history to make the NAfME All-East Band, a biennial ensemble that selects their musicians from the best students 13 states have to offer.  Since then, one more percussionist was selected for this same group. The first band member in Norwin’s history to make the NAfME All-National Band was—you guessed it!—a percussionist.

The Norwin Percussion Ensemble was the first group in Norwin’s history to be selected to perform at the PMEA Annual Convention.  Since then, they have been selected twice more.  Each time, the group was chosen from over 130 entries from across the state. The Norwin Percussion Ensemble was the first group in Norwin’s history to be selected to perform at the NAfME All-East Convention.

Over the past 11 years, Norwin percussion students have gone on to attend Slippery Rock University (5), IUP (2), West Virginia University, Baldwin Wallace, Duquesne and Indiana University – Bloomington to study music education, music therapy, music performance or music composition.

One Norwin percussion graduate recently won a national audition as a percussionist with the United States Air Force Band in St. Louis, Missouri. This is Airman First Class Joshua Dick. He currently performs in the Freedom Winds Quintet and the Concert Band, and graduated from Norwin in 2010.

Also from the class of 2010, percussionist Zach Albrecht just received his Masters Degree in Music Composition from the University of Indiana.

Norwin percussion alumna Nina Dibaradinis received a bachelors degree in music therapy from Slippery Rock University and is currently working as a Music Therapist.

Norwin alum Jay Oberfeitinger is a performer and educator in Tennessee and Virginia, who holds a Master’s Degree in Education/Curriculum Design. He has been a percussionist for the Knoxville Symphony since 1995; the principal percussionist for the Symphony of the Mountains since 2000; and a founding member and principal percussionist for the Knoxville Wind Symphony since 2006. He is a founding member of the Tri-Cities Jazz Masters quintet, and the owner of PineTree Music, a private music teaching studio in Kingsport, Tennessee.

David Blon, Norwin class of 2005, just finished a stint as an associate director of bands at the University of Hawaii. He directed, amongst other things, the Rainbow Warrior Marching Band.

This all happens because you allow it to happen.  Extraordinary things are happening in the percussion program in this district. Mrs. Glover has made our percussion program—and our band program—EXTRAORDINARY!
She has not done this alone. Our high school band directors function as a team. Mrs. Glover, Mr. Ondayko, and Mr. Daniels are like a sturdy, three-legged stool. A two-and-a-half legged stool is not reliable nor stable—yet that’s what this community, our students and parents, need from the Norwin Band program.
By reducing the number of faculty members serving our music students, the quality of the educational experience our district provides measurably drops. You're asking faculty members who already juggle perhaps the highest student-teacher ratio in the district, to shoulder yet an even greater load. Each of the remaining directors would be asked to take on at least 25% more work to maintain the quality of the band program at its present levels.

Considering that enrollment in instrumental music is growing, that load will become heavier still, and despite our faculty's best efforts, the quality of the music education our students receive at Norwin will likely drop.

A 2007 study "revealed that career music educators find adequate music supplies and materials…and realistic teaching schedules to be supportive conditions in their work. They also consider administrative support of their autonomous efforts to be crucial to their job satisfaction. Increasing numbers of positive experiences may also help to account for growing levels of career fulfillment."

If these proposed cuts go through, Mr. Daniels and Mr. Ondayko's “realistic teaching schedules” will go out the window. The number of positive experiences they have will drop—and Norwin’s band program will wither when they too leave to find a position that allows them to have any semblance of a personal life.
Because that’s what music educators do—they put their students first. Always. Day in, day out. Before school. After school. During lunch breaks and bathroom breaks. Nights. Weekends. Fundraisers. Football games and community parades.

It takes a toll on our most committed educators. I pray that Mrs. Glover’s departure is not the canary in the coal mine.

Throughout the music education community, every educator struggles with balance and burnout. I’ve had dozens of on air conversations—and even more off-air—with music educators as a part of the Marketing Music Education podcast. My most downloaded episodes are those which discuss the topic of burnout, how to avoid it, and how to recover from it.

Take away even half of a leg on that three-legged stool, and those who are left behind will fall out of balance. How could they not?

Still, there’s the problem of the deficit. If the current goal is to save money without affecting the quality of our students' education, I posit that budget cuts cannot and should not happen in the music department, where our talented and dedicated faculty handle a much higher student-teacher ratio than perhaps anywhere else in the district. Music ensembles are among the most cost effective electives offered. Talk about bang for your buck!

Here is the mission with which the administration and school board members have been tasked:

Through quality educational experiences, the Norwin School District prepares students to become productive and responsible citizens in an ever-changing global society.

In no other single classroom are our music students better, more comprehensively prepared “to become productive and responsible citizens in an ever-changing global society.”

Comprehensive research shows the benefits conveyed by music education are grouped in four categories:

* Success in school
* Success in developing intelligence
* Success in society
* Success in life

A 2012 study funded by the NAMM Foundation pegs the cost of a music education at $187 per student. Says NAMM president and CEO Joe Lamond, “We cannot sell a child’s education short for what are pennies on the dollar. Music education is among the best investments we can make in our schools and for our children.”

"Schools across our nation are decreasing music experiences for our children, saying they are too expensive," [researcher Patricia] Kuhl said. "This research reminds us that the effects of engaging in music go beyond music itself. Music experience has the potential to boost broader cognitive skills that enhance children’s abilities to detect, expect and react quickly to patterns in the world, which is highly relevant in today’s complex world."

I could go on—for hours, if you let me—describing the benefits of music education as determined by a slew of recent high-quality research. But for now, I’ll cut to the chase.

I implore you to please retain funding for our music education faculty at or above its current levels.

Cost of music ed per student per year: under $200. 

Benefits? Priceless.

Again, THANK YOU for your devotion to the students and families of Norwin. Your hard work and difficult decisions do not go unnoticed.

Sincerely, 

Kathleen Heuer
Parent of Kate, grade 9, and Grace, grade 6
North Huntingdon, PA
Creator, Marketing Music Education podcast