District fine-tuning middle school music plan
GREENWICH — Band and orchestra could be reinstated — somewhat — at the middle school level in Greenwich. But it would require a small group, once-a-week, pull-out model instead of the after-school plan previously presented by the school district.
Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones, middle school administrators and music educators presented the new proposal at the Thursday night meeting of the Board of Education, just two weeks after getting a
stern warning from most of the board members to reinstate the middle school music program.
Even still, a long-term solution seems unclear after the music classes were not included in the reopening plan for the middle schools, where students returned for full-time inperson instruction with safety precautions in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There are more questions than there are answers tonight,” Jones said.
And board members apparently agreed. Board members Karen Kowalski and Karen Hirsh said the new suggestion was a good start, but they urged district administrators to keep pushing for a resolution and for continued communication.
“Where do we go from here?” Hirsh asked. “I don’t want to have said all of this, and to have all my colleagues say all this, and then it falls flat.”
A board subcommittee might be formed to help with the process, she said, though none was created.
“I agree the three issues, the S’s: space, storage and safety,” Kowalski said, referencing the three most difficult problems — according to middle school principals — facing the district in reinstating the program. “I think you’re all headed in the right direction. I think you need to keep pushing, I think there is still a way to do this . ... I think we’ve just started. We’ve just scratched the surface.”
According to Laura Newell, program coordinator for arts and music at Greenwich Public Schools, under the new model, students would be pulled from rotating academic classes once a week for 30 minutes. The students would miss portions of academic classes, but hopefully wouldn’t be pulled more than once in a month from the same class, she said. Other than going to a hybrid model with both in-person and remote classes for middle schoolers, the pull-out is the only solution, Newell said.
“That would be the only way we could not request a change to the already built schedule,” Newell said.
The new plan would include hiring at least two new middle school music teachers — one at Central and one at Western — and assigning two existing instrumental teachers at Eastern who have free periods to see small groups of students.
The size of the small pull-out groups would be dictated by state regulations — which say that there should be 12 feet between students in music classes — and by the available space — which because of the full-time in-person model is a hot commodity in the middle school buildings, according to Jones.
“These middle school principals have brought their whole school back and that is unusual in this region,” she said. “So space is definitely a premium and it’s difficult to come by.”
Newell and Marc D’Amico, head of the district’s K-5 leadership team, said they would explore the space available at middle schools to accommodate the small groups. Additionally, the district would need to invest in safety precautions, including bell covers for wind instruments, flute covers, bags for clarinets and zippered face masks for wind and brass players.
Although the change was presented as an option, Jones said she personally is not comfortable with some of the measures, including masks with slits and the loss of some social-distancing and cohorting requirements. Still, she said she was committed to continuing to work toward a solution of offering band and orchestra based on the board’s requests.
“I think we’re all on the same page and we’re committed to the same thing,” Jones said, noting the difficulties middle school administrators faced in assembling the new schedule. “This was not a schedule they (the middle school principals) made easily. There were a lot of hard decisions in bringing our kids back.”
The presentation was not contingent on a board vote. But several members requested continued updates on progress on reinstating the music program.
“Please move forward, don’t delay,” school board Chair Peter Bernstein said, noting that as a band parent, he has a personal stake in the resolution. “But safety does come first. Work with all the issues and solve them as fast as you can. I think that’s the message.”