Trafalgar and LVR collaborate to rescue band class from funding cut (for now)
By Bill Metcalfe
Two teachers at LV Rogers Secondary will teach Trafalgar Middle School’s band classes next year, while continuing to teach at LVR. This decision comes in the wake of a budget reduction that appeared to threaten the band program, and an ensuing student-led online petition to save it.
LVR’s vice-principal Brent Cross will teach regular band classes at Trafalgar, and LVR band teacher Tim Bullen will teach the Trafalgar jazz band. Cross is a veteran music teacher who taught band in other districts before becoming an administrator at LV Rogers.
A student petition on social media
For the past week, social media in Nelson has been buzzing with an on-line petition asking School District 8 to fund a dedicated band teacher position. The petition had 354 signatures as of the morning of June 4.
Grade 8 student Liam Jones, who started learning the alto saxophone in Grade 6 at Trafalgar, started the petition with several of his friends. He says he is dedicated to band and that he and his friends were “angry and sad” at the prospect of losing the program.
Trafalgar is the feeder school for LVR musicians
One of the supporters of his petition is Galen Boulanger, 16, a band student at LVR who came up through the Trafalgar band program. He says musicians get basic training in the Trafalgar program and arrive at LVR ready to move to a higher level.
“To have the band program at Trafalgar reduced even more than it is now would have some pretty devastating effects for LVR,” he said.
Boulanger said he sees the new arrangement as a temporary solution.
“If this is what it takes,” he says, “then it should go ahead. But what about future years?”
Declining enrolment
According to Trafalgar principal Carol-Ann Leidloff, the problem stems from declining enrolment.
“We have lost about 30 students at Trafalgar for September. When we had our staffing allocation from the district, we came in at 3.3 teachers less than we had this year.”
She said she is dealing with that by not renewing the contracts of several teachers who were in term positions.
That includes band teacher Grant Freeman, who moved to Nelson last year to take a one-year term position to replace long-time Trafalgar music teacher Keith Todd, who took a one-year leave of absence for a teaching job in Whitehorse. Todd has since decided not to return to Nelson.
Freeman, like Todd, was a full-time teacher who taught other subjects at Trafalgar in addition to music. Over Todd’s 23 years at Trafalgar, he taught increasingly fewer hours of music and more of other subjects as the priority placed on music education declined along with funding for it.
The current solution—having Bullen and Cross teach music at Trafalgar—was organized by the administrations of the two schools in the past couple of weeks.
“When you have to reduce your staff,” Leidloff says, “it causes you to be creative in ways that you might not have otherwise.”
She says Cross’ and Bullen’s time at Trafalgar will amount to about .23 of a full time teaching position and that the arrangement will not reduce the time Bullen spends with his LVR band students.
And she said the amount of band time students get at Trafalgar will not change.
Parent has some doubts
Andrew Jones, a Trafalgar band parent and a member of its Parent Advisory Committee, says he likes the arrangement and he appreciates Cross’s and Bullen’s willingness to step in, but he says it is not a viable long-term solution.
“I am concerned about having two very busy teachers being able to adequately split their time with LVR and Trafalgar. I hope they won’t be too overworked having to fulfill these second positions.
“There will not be the volunteer hours put in by the current band teacher, Grant Freeman,” Jones continued, “nor likely time allocated to Tour Band.
“Adequate funding needs to be provided to Trafalgar middle school by School District 8. The students deserve a dedicated band teacher,” Jones said.
Regarding band trips and tours, Leidloff says band trips are always at the discretion of the teacher and this will continue to the be case.
“Those days are gone”
As for having a full time music teacher at Tragalgar, Leidloff doubts that will ever be possible.
“There is no way we can afford to do that. The dollars are not there. If they were, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
District 8 Superintendent Jeff Jones agrees. He told The Tyee in February that the days of full time music teaching positions in small high schools in BC are gone.
In the meantime, the petitioners are still planning to hold a music rally at 12:30 on Friday outside Trafalgar, where they will present their petition to a representative of School District 8.
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