Jeff Ream Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 True, Gary. Was discussing some things at work, with some luck, we might have something in place that might be interesting, and designed to be sustainable, though it may take some time to put pieces together. The conclusion is if the Harrisburg City Schools can't do it and get the job done, and they've been failing at it-- there are various in city organizations that just might do something with instrumental music. indoor percussion, guard, and winds. there's already local indoor groups that arent school affiliated and looking for bodies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Slightly different idea here being bandied about, Jeff. More about developing something in the city proper to give kids some positive alternatives to the nearly nothing they have. Ground up stuff. Not the normal independent stuff going after experienced kids. Could evolve into more, but right now, the city school district isn't doing beans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyGuy66 Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Just read a post on FB from a friend who is a music teacher in Maryland. Just last week, she worked 58 hours IN SCHOOL not counting lesson plans at home. Also not looking at having to do grocery shopping, wash clothes cook, clean the house etc etc. The municipal budgets along with school budgets are strapped. If you put a referendum on a ballot to vote for an increase in the school budget it's voted down. Now, what would you have the school district do without additional money and teachers who are already working 60 hours a week? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 That's why work-to-terms strikes devastate schools that have them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Also, the Harrisburg City Schools have been run into the ground by abysmal administration/leadership for decades. I know. I was one of 6 Band directors in 5 years. Education took a back seat to making sure everyone was "happy". Incompetence reigned. I can relate a lot of horror stories. I'll tell you about the fight that broke out during an academic awards ceremony over a beer (a very exciting story!!!) and how the Asian students loathed the principal because he made no time to learn how to pronounce their names properly or even get close. The Commonwealth eventually took over the district, things were beginning to get right, the Mayor before the last one then pretty much screwed up all of the gains made and set them back further. Many of us around here view what she did as flushing that district into a black hole in which there is no way out of. Even if there was the money for say... some kind of Solaris-styled HS percussion/guard/indoor wind group- they'd find a way to screw it up for the kids and ensure the program would fail through their deliberate bungling and idiocy. I saw it with my own eyes and personally experienced it. Been in conversations with someone tapped into the city social work scene, and it's to the point where finally the people in the city realize the schools can't get it done and that they themselves will have to do the job if they want their kids to have some positive opportunities and "get them off the streets". They're fed up. This'll take some thinking, planning and development to even get to some kind of presentation. Luckily, he knows the people who have the knowledge of the business nuts and bolts beyond teaching kids music and knows some of this himself. The kind of thing I've been discussing brings back things to full circle. Starting kids with "This is a flag." This is a trumpet". "Here's how you hold the sticks, and this is a whole note". It'd take years and a lot of steady building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbriggs Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 sounds like too many school districts across the country Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 sounds like too many school districts across the country YES. It's a large part of the issue. Does Pennsylvania need over 500 School districts, each paying a six-figure superintendent, so on and so forth? The only solution to me to save the kids in Harrisburg City and neighboring Steelton-Highspire would be to literally split them up like a pie and merge them with neighboring Susquehanna Township, Middletown, and Central Dauphin- unknown if Lower Dauphin borders any of it given the convoluted gerrymandering that took place BITD. The problem would be none of the above would want the kids, and it would take years to get it straight, but I think that in the end everyone would benefit. Almost all of the Harrisburg kids are decent kids and want something more for themselves, they just need more positive guidance as to how to get there. As for upstate New York, very similar. Teeny districts. A lot of money would be saved through consolidation up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Matczak Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Just read a post on FB from a friend who is a music teacher in Maryland. Just last week, she worked 58 hours IN SCHOOL not counting lesson plans at home. Also not looking at having to do grocery shopping, wash clothes cook, clean the house etc etc. The municipal budgets along with school budgets are strapped. If you put a referendum on a ballot to vote for an increase in the school budget it's voted down. Now, what would you have the school district do without additional money and teachers who are already working 60 hours a week? Did she get paid overtime? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 W who runs Harrisburg SD anymore? Used to be the city which is clueless leading the clueless but lost track..... And can dig the teacher doing 58+. Sis in law is a 2nd grade teacher and worked Reading Recovery. RR finds kids with reading problems and helps them before it permanently hurts their education. In long term a money saver as kids have better chance to graduate instead of falling behind at the very start, But board members it was a waste of money on "dumb" kids. Try to explain dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence and get a blank look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyGuy66 Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I assume your being humorous Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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