SIGN THE PETITION before JUNE 12!
UPDATE – 03 june 2019
Last week we sent a letter to the School Board Superintendent Scott Benwell signed by 63 concerned parents. Read the entire letter here. In a nutshell, we are asking for two things:
1) That the SIMS Music Teacher FTE be increased from 0.4 to 0.6.
2) That the GISS Music Teacher FTE be maintained at its current 0.7143.
Following that letter, I had a meeting with Scott on May 30. While he could not promise anything specific re. our requests, the meeting was very productive and I feel optimistic going forward.
NEXT: We’ve prepared a petition you can find here. We are sending a delegation to the next School Board meeting on June 12 and we’d like to have as many signatures on the petition as possible! Please help us show the board how strongly we care about music education on Salt Spring! Sign the petition!
Thanks
Kim Thompson
UPDATE – 22 may 2019
I am glad to report that the school board and SIMS admin has announced that the current music program will be maintained next year: “…the hours allotted to Band and Music for our next school year will conform to this years’ hours” was the statement in an email to parents this morning from the SIMS admin. We are going to wait for further clarification of this, but want to be clear we feel that even the current FTE is insufficient for the job. We shall carry on the conversation – on all sides. And continue to gather names of support.
- In lieu of this recent announcement of course, the numbers in the infographic below are no longer accurate.
21 may 2019
Things look grim for the middle school music program next year. As I write this, in May of 2019, our school district is planning to cut the Music Teacher position way, way back – to such an extent that we may lose Keith and possibly the entire program. The details are outlined below…
If you would like to help us convince the board to reverse this cut and make moves to properly support the SIMS Music Program, please contact me to be added to our list of supporters. There are several things in the works, including a petition, social media campaign, and rallying around the next school board meeting on June 12. I will alert everyone by email as things happen!
Thanks everyone!
Kim Thompson
Add my name to the SIMS Music Supporters List!
