The Newton South Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo made the state finals on Sunday.
Here’s a letter sent to the School Committee this week …
Dear School Committee Members,
Sunday, May 16 was an awesome day for the Newton South High School Jazz program, directed by Ms. Lisa Linde. Its two top bands, the Jazz Ensemble and the Jazz Combo (pictured above) made state finals (as they have nearly every year) and were invited to play at the Hatch Shell. The students have worked so hard all year and they sounded awesome!
But it was bittersweet, because the NSHS Jazz Combo will be cut next year.
Budget shortfalls and short-sighted priorities have plagued the Newton South Music Program for years. While South’s Visual Arts department has expanded its course offerings and the Theatre department held onto 3 teachers for approximately 55 students enrolled (per publicly available NPS enrollment data), Instrumental Music has suffered steady cuts from 2.7 to 2.0 teachers. The department that somehow managed in-person rehearsals in freezing temperatures in the school parking lot through the depth of the pandemic – because music mattered that much – is now seeing its capstone course eliminated.
This is unacceptable.
Music is a critical outlet for creativity, community, self-expression and developing confidence. It also promotes skills in leadership, collaboration and communication. It levels the playing field for kids who may not achieve as highly in sports or academics, at the same time as it provides a healthy outlet for stressed out scholars. A proper music program is essential to college readiness. Not having one is as inconceivable as not having a proper Art or Science program in a competitive district like NPS.
To be sure, times are tight and budget shortfalls are real. But surely a creative reallocation of funds could be found to restore a mere 0.7 FTE as was promised 2 years ago. Our students’ well being depends on it.
Sincerely,
Julia Jenkins
Time (past time really) for NPS to step up and show that excellence is rewarded. Not holding my breath.
For any of you out there in VILLAGE 14 and who support music education, please let the school committee know that this class should not be eliminated for next year. Assistant Superintendent assured the music department that the level of 2.7 FTE would be restored, and he has not restored it. Our current high school musicians were depending on that class, and future high school students will need that class.
Please reach out to the school committee. Our student musicians (current and future) need your help now.
I may be wrong, but I don’t think this is the first time these groups have gone to the state finals.
I told you they were good.
These groups were always the highlight of the NSHS Music Department concerts.
Very best of luck to all the musicians and Ms. Linde. Go out with a bang! I hope the bean counters find a way to keep these groups alive.
I am posting this comment on behalf of a parent.
The original letter was sent to the School Committee. For more information about what is happening with the music program at NSHS please visit: https://sites.google.com/view/savenshsmusic/home:
I am aware we were unsuccessful in getting on the agenda for the coming meeting, so am writing to underscore our request. Please restore Jazz Combo and staffing at 2.7 to the NSHS music program.
Attached you will find two graphics (https://sites.google.com/view/savenshsmusic/program-cuts?authuser=0).
One represents the robust music program recently offered at Newton South. It is that program that our son, xxxx (class of ‘23) and his entire freshman class found at Newton South. The other is the set of music classes – no longer a real program – that will be available in his senior year. In three years, the department and school have dismantled a globally successful music program that produced a cadre of professional musicians and young people for whom music kept them whole and taught them how to be successful in any number of endeavors.
xxxx intends to become a professional musician and will be applying to conservatories and music programs in the fall. That is because of Newton South. If he were a freshman, or even a sophomore now, however, he couldn’t. With this last step of removing Jazz Combo and extending the latest, one-time staffing cut another year, he would neither be able to develop nor take the courses he would need. We’d have to privatize his education, and even then I don’t think it would happen, because it was South’s program that helped him discover his passion.
And what about the kids who need music to stay whole? They want to be engineers, teachers, researchers, social workers…and growing musically – actually growing because they get to play their instruments enough in class rather than a quarter of the time and there is a progression to help them aspire and move forward, which is gone now – is part of how they stay emotionally whole in high school to become who they want to be.
It is inexplicable that South is doing this. That the district is doing it. That the superintendent allowed it. That the school committee can be ok with it. We, the parents and families, aren’t. Newton touts our academic prowess to the world. We pride ourselves on the quality of our schools. We argue our tax base is necessary for that excellence. And then we do this. Arbitrarily, to a program that was actually demonstrating the excellence we tout, and without warning or reasonable explanation.
Our son will be fine. He caught the tail of the magic. I am really worried about the younger kids. When our older child – not a musician – was at South, she said to me once, “You know, they don’t care what kind of person I am. They just care about what kind of numbers I put up.” Our son didn’t feel that way .. because of the music program. It is starting to look a whole lot like that to him, and us, now.
This is ridiculous. An award winning program, lauded last year by Fleishman, now cast aside. Mayor Fuller will be at the helm of the decline of NPS. We all should have known better.
Last nights public comment had current students, alumni and parents speak about the Jazz Combo program. I heard that the Superintendent is working with the principal and department head, but he did NOT address that at South there is a .7 FTE position missing. It went UNFUNDED this year and was supposed to be added back this year. North has fewer students enrolled in their music program, but has a full 2.7 FTE instead of South’s 2.0 FTE. I am confused and I have not heard why there is a difference of .7 FTE between the schools. Who can answer this question for me?
Listening to the Superintendent address the reinstatement of the Jazz Combo class last night, he said something that was absolutely true. Each school does decide where to place allocated funds for courses. The people we need to lobby are the principal of NSHS and even more importantly, the chair of the Fine and Performing Arts department, Megan Leary-Crist. Fine and Performing Arts gets their allotment and decisions are made by the department about where to place the funding. NNHS has put more resources into their music program and NSHS has reduced monetary resources and this has been a problem for a really long time. At the moment there are 5 faculty listed for visual arts (yes, they have to have smaller class sizes for the kind of work they do) 3 faculty for Theatre and 2 for music. I do not know the FTEs since not everyone may be full time. Megan Leary- Crist needs to meet with families and answer some questions about why the program is not receiving the funding they need to meet the needs of our students. She is the person who should be advocating for the program-the whole music program.
Ms. Leary-Crist has been no friend of the jazz program since she assumed the role of department chair. Year in and year out, she manages to find excuses for why the jazz kids need fewer resources. Hopefully the new principal at South will find a more appropriate leader for that department.
I agree with Elmo. Unfortunately Ms. Leary-Crist is not a leader, she consistently undermines both the performing arts – music and theater at South. Last year, with a week’s notice she pulled the pinnacle performance of Chicago from the main stage – relegated to the cafeteria floor – so that the jazz team could practice for their championship in the auditorium (practice, not perform) I am not debating their need for practice space but it was done so unceremoniously without any creative thinking for alternative solutions. South Stage kids were devastated and after the prior year the show had been cancelled, it was a huge blow and it created a lot of ill will towards her from all, pitting the music vs the theater dept unnecessarily. She wouldn’t even meet with the cast to deliver the news that the cafeteria floor was to be their stage. Unfortunately, there is no city-wide oversight of the arts for the secondary schools and as a result at South, the department chair is not effective or very collaborative and it has been this way for years.
Ms. Leary-Crist’s approach to communicating (or not) with the theater groups is the same as how she worked with (or not) the jazz program: no discussion + delivery of bad news at the last minute = devastated performers and instructors. She would appear to be someone unable to engage her constituents collaboratively in creative problem solving. Compounding the problem is either an inability to communicate bad news effectively or a strategy of leaving folks in the dark until the last possible minute. Either one is a problem. Moreover, this is not a mistake made once or twice. It is a pattern of interaction evident over multiple years which should disqualify her from leading a department. Hopefully she is a wonderful teacher because that is the role she should be playing in NPS. The fact that she is still there after all these years only serves to strengthen the claims made by those who see the Newtons school system as having declines sharply in quality in recent years.