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Strings music program silenced at Weaver

Saturday, June 27, 2009
(Updated 5:48 am)
By J. Brian Ewing
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — The strains of the cello and violin may fall silent at the Weaver Academy this fall as the state budget crisis claims yet another academic victim.

Parents of students in the school’s strings program learned this week that the program’s teacher is cut from the school’s budget, effectively ending the program.

Parents say they won’t stand for it.

“People spend a lifetime trying to figure out what they want to do. We’re lucky; our kids know what they want to do and they’ve had the rug pulled out from under them,” said Thurman Givan.

Givan’s daughter is one of 12 students in the strings program.

An English teacher was also cut from the Weaver budget, meaning as many as 100 students who are enrolled in the school’s career and technical education program could be turned away.

The school board approved a 2009-10 budget in April that drastically reduces the amount of funding allocated to schools for discretionary spending. Principals use that funding for various school needs, including hiring teachers. The budget cuts mean principals have had to eliminate 118 teaching positions from the system.

The school board cuts are a result of anticipated state budget reductions. The ripple effect of those cuts is now washing ashore. Northern Guilford High School announced last week it will move from a seven-period day to six this fall because the school will not receive the two additional teachers it was originally budgeted for.

Weaver Principal Pete Kashubara said he isn’t giving up yet. Kashubara met with a few of the strings program parents Friday to discuss possible alternatives.

Kashubara said the strings students could stay at the school by entering another of the performing arts programs. Kashubara is also reaching out to community groups and individuals who might be qualified to teach the class and willing to volunteer.

“If they choose to stay, it’s my responsibility to find them a partnership to learn their craft,” he said.

Students enrolled in the visual and performing arts programs at the school must audition and meet a minimum grade-point average.

School board member Jeff Belton said losing an entire program to budget cuts is alarming. He has asked Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green and his staff to scrutinize how cuts affect curriculum.

“We don’t want to wipe out a program,” Belton said. “We want to at least give careful consideration to the kind of pain and the level of pain we’re causing. We might not be able to alleviate it much but we need to look very carefully.”

Belton said so far, cuts have been distributed formulaically among schools. That may look fair on paper, Belton said, but when you consider the effect on students, the cuts can look less equal.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at 373-7351 or brian.ewing@news-record.com

Comments

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mamaboilermaker

June 27, 2009 - 8:05 am EDT

So these parents will have to PAY for their kids' music lessons just like most other people have for generations.

marowland13

July 1, 2009 - 10:32 am EDT

This school isn't about "free" music lessons. The kids audition for this program and must be excellent students as well. Weaver is a school of the arts and most of the kids in these classes wish to pursue their area of expertise in college. Please look at the admission requirements on-line. These are amazing kids.

KLM

July 7, 2009 - 10:37 pm EDT

Don't think that parents having to actually pay for there childrens lessions is the big issue here. mamaboilermaker for your information weaver students have to have music lessions outside of school as well as in. If your going to comment on what people need to do at least have your facts straight.

Panacea

June 27, 2009 - 9:15 am EDT

Heaven forbid we take money from sports.

igliigli

June 27, 2009 - 9:29 am EDT

Performing arts programs, like sports, are a waste of taxpayer money. Get rid of both and use the money for academics, not entertainment.

DaveW

June 27, 2009 - 10:34 am EDT

They are not a waste to taxpayer's children that learn from them or those that enjoy listening to the music.
Igliigli I see you are an equal opportunity hater, athletics and performing arts. You would hate both the football game and the halftime band performance.

dcolin

June 27, 2009 - 2:33 pm EDT

I am really worried.
This is the first time I have agreed with you.

I need to check my pulse and mental state.

First the individual that said people always paid for their own music lessons.
Simply mistaken. Schools have been offering music and other arts for ever.

It’s all important. Academics, sports, arts, and vocational training. All

“Man does not live by bread alone” I would hate to think of a world that did not
have a Mozart, Willie Mays, Leonardo ( can't spell it ), Marlin Brando, Einstein,
Itzix Pearlman, The Beatles, Norman Mailer, Isaac Newton etc.

Also the links between the skills.
Example:
Grantland Rice, Sports writer, liiberal education, athlete,
Read his poetry.

We have three major problems,

1) Lack of funds (there aint no money)

2) Perspective on relative importance of things (Varsity athletics/winning vs. participation) Physical education lead by PE should occur all through school.

3) Administrators with little actual understanding of needs/positions

Superintendent (you fill in the blank)
PR person one step from top
Principals with little no real academic experience
Central administrators with absolutely no academic experience. None!
Allowing teachers with little real background/education in subject taught

Go To: http://www.gcsnc.com/HR/job_descrip.htm
Look at the job descriptions. The array of titles defies reality.
However they sound good.

Look at Athletic Director.

MINIMUM TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
A minimum of five years coaching experience at the high school level preferred.
Not even PE

There is nothing for Coach.

I give you Manny and Stan

DaveW

June 27, 2009 - 8:34 pm EDT

dcolin-- You'd be surprised at how much I agree with you on several things.Let me list some.
1. At least all HEAD coaches should be teachers.
2.Extracurriculars are important.
3.PE should be required past 9th grade.
I just get really irritated with some others that post here and at times I have gone after you along with them.
I do not agree with you on everything but I do listen to your viewpoint from an outsider and try to enlighten you from my INSIDER'S perspective. You , by the way are not totally inflexible like some others. I am a teacher and I feel like I can give you some information from an educator's perspective and you can actually use it.
Also, sorry about the gpa misunderstanding.
I consider myself 51% nice guy and 49% horses tail. It just so happens that when I hear suggestions on here that I know would hurt kids(especially my own) the 49% switch gets flipped.

dcolin

June 28, 2009 - 2:27 pm EDT

What sport/sports do you coach?

DaveW

June 28, 2009 - 6:29 pm EDT

dcolin-- I would rather not say exactly what I coach so I will tell you I coach 3 non revenue sports.You know the ones that it is harder to get kids athletic scholarship money for college. However, I do bust my tail and try to get as many some help as I can. Lately I have been somewhat successful at doing so. As a young coach I did help with football and basketball on the JV level very early in my career. I have established rapport with many collegiate coaches in NC in my sports so if I make a phone call on behalf of a student athlete, I am listened to attentively. Coaches in my sports at all of the UNC system universities know me by name. I see many of them at clinics that I still attend to keep improving(even in the last 5 years of my career).

dcolin

June 28, 2009 - 9:48 pm EDT

Do you coach/work with low income kids?

DaveW

June 29, 2009 - 5:48 pm EDT

Yes

reverie

July 10, 2009 - 2:23 pm EDT

Wow. I hope you never have children.

newkid

June 27, 2009 - 12:43 pm EDT

Not a waste, but a misaligned priority when the academic abilities of our graduates is so sorely lacking.

connieohyeah

June 27, 2009 - 6:23 pm EDT

igliigli [I sure hope that's not a reference to the VW]. I feel so sorry for you.

"Performing arts programs, like sports, are a waste of taxpayer money. Get rid of both and use the money for academics, not entertainment."

Apparently not even "academics" can teach away your ignorance. Good god, my friend, why don't we do away with literature courses, while we're at it??? Do you even know what CULTURE is???

DaveW

June 27, 2009 - 10:17 pm EDT

Connie-- I think igliigli hates everything that is extracurricular in schools. I would be interested to know what this individual did while in either high school or college.

connieohyeah

June 27, 2009 - 6:29 pm EDT

Response to New Kid on the Block:

Can you even prove this "sore lack of academics," or are you just regurgitating the BS sensationalist headlines put out by the media? The media teaches us how "dumb" and "behind" American students are, but it really isn't the reality. While the rest of the world teaches its students to take tests, Americans are learning to think *freely and critically* and learn over a long period of time.

Read Fareed Zakaria's "Post American World."

dcolin

June 27, 2009 - 11:10 pm EDT

We are turning out lots of kids ( maybe 25 to 30 %) that for all reasonable standards(6th grade at most )
Can't read, can't write, and can't do double digit arithmetic ( some single digit ) without a calculator.

The worst part is the system ( all the way to Raleigh/Washington ) knows.

They know.

Look at the HS report cards. Just look.

Don't believe me. Look

connieohyeah

June 28, 2009 - 9:26 am EDT

Okay, government sucks at education, so why do we keep asking it to continue sucking? Why don't we just get the government out of the way? It's proven its incompetence, so now we should look somewhere else. The government that governs best, governs.... you know...

ktu2009

June 27, 2009 - 10:34 pm EDT

The academic abilities of students from Weaver Academy have placed this school 81st academically out of the top 1,500 public high schools in the US for 2009 (Weaver moved up over 40 spots from the 2008 rankings - June 8, 2009 Newsweek)! The academic abilities as well as the artistic abilities are stellar at Weaver, not sorely lacking. GCS should not be punishing one of their best and brightest schools in the system.

dcolin

June 27, 2009 - 11:15 pm EDT

First of all Newsweek is BS.
Second Weaver. It's not the school. It's the kids.
They tested in. Most of the kids probably have higher IQ's than the staff.

Many at Early College could teach themselves.

You are looking at the screened group.
What is so difficult to understand?

connieohyeah

June 28, 2009 - 9:29 am EDT

So if some kids have really high IQs and learn really well, then maybe that 20-30 percent you cited earlier are just dumb?

Does it work both ways?

I could discredit your argument by simply saying that those 20-30 percent were too dumb to learn. It's basically what you are saying here...

dcolin

June 28, 2009 - 3:46 pm EDT

The 20-30 percent I am talking about actually do graduate.
That was my point about the schools.

However you might tell the administration the dumb theory.
It would make a good excuse for them.

KLM

July 7, 2009 - 10:47 pm EDT

dcolin Yes it is true that the students are what you called screened in but thats because weaver is taking kids that show they can handle the school work and the extra classes that the school has. There grades need to be checked before entering to see if they are able to handle everything.

ktu2009

June 27, 2009 - 10:07 pm EDT

I completely disagree with getting rid of funding for what you, igliigli, would deem wasteful. Do you really even know what Weaver Academy is all about anyway? Every student that is enrolled in the performing arts programs, including strings, has to meet rigorous academic standards to be considered for enrollment even if they are good enough to pass their audition.

DaveW

June 27, 2009 - 10:18 pm EDT

ktu2009-----------You are correct!

dcolin

June 27, 2009 - 11:32 pm EDT

For those that don't know.
Music degree's in college are a very rigorous/difficult course of study.

Also, just getting accepted to the really good ones is an accomplishment

dcolin

June 27, 2009 - 4:21 pm EDT

"As a district, we are proud of what we have accomplished. During the 2007-08 school year, three of our high schools – Weaver Academy, The Early College at Guilford and Greensboro College Middle College – were among only eight high schools in the entire state to achieve a 100 percent graduation rate"

What does this tell you about our administration?
Really give it some thought

connieohyeah

June 27, 2009 - 6:35 pm EDT

To me it means we're doing a darn good job, comparatively. Greensboro having 3 out of 8 schools state wide with 100% graduation rates is an amazing achievement. As this number shows, 100% graduation from any school is rare. Why not celebrate this?

I'd argue that it's unrealistic to hope for any higher rates than this. It's not our ADMINISTRATION (GCS, I guess you mean), it's AMERICAN CULTURE: rewards, safety nets, and tolerance for underachievement.

dcolin

June 27, 2009 - 10:20 pm EDT

!) Look at the number of kids in each school( very small )

2) They are selective magnet schools( Weaver and Early college require test to get in )

Hardly difficult to get 100% graduation.

More PR BS.

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