[Vision2020] idaho school cuts violin program

[Debbie Gray]

Facing the music
No Child Left Behind certification rules force Butte County School
District to cut its violin program
http://www.headwatersnews.org/pr.music050905.html

By NICOLE STRICKER
nstricker at postregister.com

ARCO -- It was just like the plot of a Hollywood movie.

Cindy Jardine helped pilot a violin program at a tiny middle school with
few musical offerings. Both gifted and struggling students signed up.
Within two years, their grades and behavior improved.

Jardine launched the program by showing a scene from "Music of the Heart"
in which a high school violin class plays Carnegie Hall. Jardine's
students asked whether they could perform in New York if they practiced
hard enough.

Five years later, they made the trip. They visited Carnegie Hall and
performed at the Statue of Liberty and St. Paul's Cathedral.

But when they returned from the tour last month, they learned the Butte
County School District was axing the violin program.

That's not the ending Hollywood would have scripted, but it's the reality
imposed by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Under the law, next year all teachers must be "highly qualified," meaning
they're certified to teach their subject. School districts aren't
reimbursed for teachers who aren't certified, meaning those salaries come
out of their general funds. And students attending class with a
noncertified teacher are absent as far as the law is concerned, meaning
districts also lose state funding that's based on student attendance.

Jardine, the violin teacher, isn't certified.

"Not only would we pay her salary, but we lose the money for those kids,"
Butte County Superintendent Scott Rogers said. "So it's a double hit."

The problem is especially acute in rural school districts, which don't
have enough students to employ a full-time teacher for every subject.

"Let's say you had 13 band students," Rogers said. "Who is going to come
to Arco to take a job where you only have enough kids to do two periods of
band? They want to come for a full-time job."

In the past, districts could hire a teacher certified in one subject but
able to teach others. A science teacher who's also a musician could teach
four periods of science and two of band, for example.

But now that teacher would need dual certification. Without it, districts
would have to cut the teacher to part time and hire a part-time certified
band teacher or face the financial burden of keeping an uncertified
teacher.

As districts struggle to meet the goals now required by law, electives
such as Butte County High School's violin program are the first to go.

"You don't get on the failing schools list because you don't have a violin
program," Rogers said.

Even the irony of the predicament harkens to Hollywood.

A violin program that boosted children's grades is being squeezed out by a
law trying to improve education. Jardine, who's taught violin for 35
years, is a liability to the district because the law says she's not
"highly qualified."

But she has seen the program's impact and aims to keep it going on her own
time. She said she doesn't fault the school district, which has always
supported the program.

The district bused the group to the Salt Lake City airport for its New
York trip and even paid for the driver's hotel when the return flight got
delayed, she said.

Most of the students in this year's program were part of the original
class and want to continue studying violin with Jardine.

Junior Kellimarie Knighton, who is aiming for an honors diploma, said
playing violin helps her relieve the stress of her packed schedule.

Eighth-grader Tawnya Hughes, who's been playing for four years, said the
program motivates her to do better in school. Students can't participate
in the program if their grades slip, Jardine said.

Plus, the violin class exposes Tawnya to new people and gives her a mental
boost.

"I get happy after class and pumped up for my other classes," she said.

Education reporter Nicole Stricker can be reached at 542-6765.

Debbie

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  Debbie Gray      dgray at uidaho.edu
  We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
  so as to have the life that is waiting for us." --Joseph Campbell
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