Band director hired for new high school
Passionate about music and children, Monty Hill hopes to build the Pea Ridge schools band program in both quality and quantity. Hill is the new high school band director for the 2014-2015 school year. He was hired at Monday night’s School Board meeting.
“I look forward to the great op- portunity of learning the job from someone whose been doing it a long time,” Matt McCool, current band director, said. McCool will be the assistant band director for Pea Ridge Middle School. “Mr. (Rick) Neal and Mr. (Jon) Laffoon have been great at showing me the need for that.”
“I think there’s a lot of potential here to develop an outstanding program,” Hill said. “I hope Pea Ridge will be known as a leader in music education in this part of northwest Arkansas allowing our students individual opportunities for scholarships to pay for col- lege.”
A native of Warren, Hill plays clarinet and saxophone. He currently teaches at Mills University Studies High School, Pulaski County Special School District. He is the state chair for the National Band Association and holds many band honors.
Music is a family affair for Hill, whose wife, Valerie is a band director in North Little Rock. The couple’s two children, Kristen and Nathaniel, are both involved in music. Kristen is the band di-
rector at Northside High School, Fort Smith, and Nathaniel, a bio chemistry major at the University of Arkansas, plays the French horn in the Razorback Band. Hill said he has played an instrument since he was 11. His mother was a high school choir director and is a church pianist. He said his father was an allstate percussionist.
Hill began his teaching career in 1987 at Lakeside Junior High School, Hot Springs, and has a band director of bands at Lake Hamilton, Greenwood, El Dorado and New Mexico State University. He has also served as a fine arts coordinator.
“When you have a competitive program that does well, students want to join,” Hill said, sharing several ideas for growing the band program in Pea Ridge.
“You can’t have a quality high school band unless middle school is rocking. You have to start there, at beginning band level. It’s very important to create as large a middle school program,” he said.
High School principal Jon Laffoon showed a television news clip featuring Hill and said: “I’ve talked to several people who said ‘our band has not been the same since Monty left.’ I think our band program will just explode.”
“More kids will have opportunities to get scholarships,” Rick Neal, school superintendent, said. “He has a track record of more than 90 percent of his students going on. He’s interested in helping kids. There are awesome possibilities for our students.”
“I know all the college directors in Arkansas,” Hill said. “I pester them a lot.”