All 300 fine-arts teachers in Detroit laid off

[ghost of miles]

Including teachers at Cass Tech, the famous Detroit school through which so many great jazz musicians passed. This e-mail was posted to the Jazz Programmers Listserv today:

Hello, Professor Shirley,

I am an attorney for the Detroit Board of Education in a lawsuit against Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb, over academic control of DPS. Bobb has given layoff notices to every music and art teacher in the district, including those at Cass Tech and Detroit School of the Arts. He plans to have one citywide chorus, one orchestra, one band etc, as extra-curricular activities that students may only qualify for only if they have good grades. Any music or art classes or programs in individual schools would be supported, if at all, only with private funds.

The School Board's plan includes music and art in every school at every level, with a lobbying effort at the state and federal level to increase funding for art and music education.

Please accept my great admiration of your accomplishments and your career. I am a product of DPS schools, a life-long classical music and opera-lover, and a great believer in music as one of humanity's greatest accomplishments. I personally cannot bear the possibility that Detroit's students could be denied the very classes that I considered my lifeline for survival and growth as a student and as a human being.

We believe that removing art and music teachers from virtually all public schools would result in irreparable harm to the children of Detroit. Could you talk to us on the phone about these two counterposed educational visions for fine arts education for Detroit students?

Unfortunately, time is very short. We begin our trial on Friday, May 21. If you are in the country and could talk on the phone, please call me on my cell at your earliest convenience.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration of this urgent matter.

Joyce Schon

Geri A. Allen

Associate Professor of Jazz

and Contemporary Improvisation

School Of Music Theatre & Dance

Guggenheim Fellow 2008-9

University Of Michigan

1100 Baits Str

Ann Arbor, Michigan

[JSngry]

Geri Allen isn't the lawyer, right?

[ghost of miles]

Geri Allen isn't the lawyer, right?

Nah, she's just part of the e-mail chain...Joyce Schon appears to be the lawyer. I didn't realize that Geri Allen was teaching at Michigan, though.

[.:.impossible]

Hey have you posted this elsewhere? I'd like to share it.

[ghost of miles]

Hey have you posted this elsewhere? I'd like to share it.

Feel free--I just pulled it from the post to the Jazz Programmer Listserv. A real bummer that the arts are getting the heave-ho in public schools around the country...and I don't just say this as somebody deeply invested in the arts, but as somebody who thinks teaching kids to play music, draw/paint, and do other creative things is a really good thing for this society as a whole...not just something that's "nice if we can afford it."

[GA Russell]

I had no fine arts classes when I was in high school. Considering how important music was to all of us then (the mid-60s), I'm sure that we all would have gotten something out of it.

[papsrus]

If it has come to this, it may be time to take a look at the entirety of programs -- academic and otherwise -- offered in the Detroit school system. Why the arts and not athletics, for instance? (Some athletic programs, like football, do generate revenues. I doubt it's enough to offset the cost of the programs though.)

But ... bah. Sad news.

Reminds me of a story in the paper here recently about the state of Florida leading the nation in cuts for arts funding.

[jeffcrom]

As a public school music teacher who has been "budget cut" (my last day of teaching is tomorrow), I feel that I should have words of wisdom here. But I don't - it's all extremely depressing. We in the education biz used to talk about multiple intelligences and teaching the whole child; more recently it's all been about math and English test scores. Now all the "educational" decisions seem to made on the basis of doing things cheaper.

I know that times are tough financially, but I shudder to think of what public education is going to look like in a few more years. I tell people that I feel like I've stepped off a sinking ship. The only problem is that the ship is full of children.

[Jazzmoose]

I had a fine art teacher in the ninth grade; really made puberty a work out...

[Chuck Nessa]

I had a fine art teacher in the ninth grade; really made puberty a work out...

[Shawn]

Nah. Kids don't need to be exposed to Art or Music or anything culturally significant. Just make sure they can pass those math and english tests (which they keep lowering the standards of) so they can pump them through the system as quickly as possible...there are numerous positions available at the local Wal-mart they might even qualify for.

[vajerzy]

I have been against home schooling my child (10 yrs) because I believe in public education but seeing this happen and watching her "train" for the SOLs, I'm reconsidering my position. She would get a more balanced education.

Wow.