Why elementary music — and the K-12 program built on top of it — is non-negotiable.
I am in [PLACEHOLDER: grade] and I do not love high school. The thing I show up for is choir. I started singing in second grade with my elementary music teacher and I have not stopped since. I cannot imagine being a kid in this district who never gets that. [Replace with real student testimony.]
I came through the GBSD music pipeline from kindergarten through twelfth grade. It is the reason I graduated, the reason I went to college, and one of the most important things that ever happened to me. Cutting elementary music does not just affect 'the music kids' — it cuts the legs off the entire K-12 program for every kid who would have come behind me. [Replace with real alum testimony.]
My daughter discovered she could sing in second grade. Her music teacher noticed and put her in the choir club. She is now in middle school and choir is the thing she organizes her week around. None of this happens without elementary music. There is a kindergartener in our district right now who would have had the same experience — and the proposed budget takes it away from them before they ever walk in the door. [Replace with real parent testimony.]
I have directed middle school band in this district for [PLACEHOLDER: years]. The single biggest predictor of whether a sixth-grader sticks with band is whether they had general music in elementary school. Kids with that foundation get to the first concert in October feeling capable. Kids without it spend the whole fall feeling lost — and most of them quit. Cut K-5 music and within two years my advanced and symphonic bands cannot fill themselves. [Replace with real director testimony.]
I have taught general music in GBSD for [PLACEHOLDER: years]. Every week I see kids who struggle in every other classroom — kids on IEPs, kids learning English, kids who freeze at math — light up when they sing in a round or play a recorder pattern. Music class is where they get to be successful in front of their peers. If we cut elementary music, we are not 'saving money' — we are quietly telling those kids that the one place they shine does not matter to us. [Replace with real teacher testimony.]