Local school board shifting focus of music program

KAWARTHA LAKES-The sound of flutes, drums and tamborines is slowly going quiet in local schools. “Does every school have an instrumental program, no and that’s not actually our goal at the board,” Andrea Gillespie, Superintendant of Learning, Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) told Kawartha411. “We want to expose kids to the arts and if we are able to do it through the ukulele, through instrumental, there are different ways to get to the same goals.”

The board has been pushing the Ukulele program because they say the instrument doesn’t require the upkeep that other instruments need. “The ukulele has become very popular throughout our board, and you may have a school that’s decided that the upkeep of the instruments is a little bit too much, our kids are really showing an aptiude and interest in ukulele so we have schools that have opted to do this instead and the kids are really loving it.”

There are 41 elementary schools in the board. Gillespie says there are a few schools in each of the boards three areas (Muskoka, Haliburton, Kawartha Lakes)with full instrumental programs but all provide instruction in the arts. “Depending on the shools and the educators in the building, will sort of determine whether or not there’s an instrumental program, as you can imagine we need to have people who themsleves can play instruments, if they are going to instruct that.”

A survey of 1,000 schools by People for Education found that only 41 per cent of elementary schools had a full-time or part-time specialist music teacher in the 2016/2017 school year according to the Toronto Star. Ten years ago, 48 per cent of schools had a music teacher, the group said. And it’s down from 58 per cent in 1998.

TLDSB says they have no full or part time designated music teachers. “We’ve been working really, really hard to support all educators in teaching the arts so it may not be a school thats big enought to have a full instrumental program but they may have ukulele and really it’s about teaching the overall expectations in the arts curriculum and nowhere in the arts curriculum does it say you have to play a drum.” Gillespie says.

Instead of hiring designated music teachers the board says it hired two music consultants and an arts consultant, partially with money earmarked for special initiatvies for rural schools. “About three years ago we collected some data on that and we were certainly hearing from schools they felt that the arts had been watered down a little so over the last three years we’ve been working really hard to enhance the arts in our elementary schools, and we’ve done that by hiring an arts consultant, we currently have a music consultant as well,” Gillespie explains. “What the music consultant is doing is actually going in and supporting teachers who may not have had any professional learning in terms of teaching music. The music consultants are going in shoulder to shoulder with teachers supporting them in terms of making sure all the expectations are being taught.”

That funding for the three consultants is the only money the board spends on music and the arts. The board trustees also pitch in $25,000 a year. “Our trustees have been fantastic in terms of supporting the arts and music in our schools and every year we give out a little bit of money for the upkeep, its very expensive to keep up the instruments.”  The consultants are permanent teachers on a yearly contract and are paid a teachers salary with a small consultant allowance.  Catherine Sheddon, Corporate Communications, TLDSB says, “Our consultants are registered teachers who have additional arts qualifications or other certification, interest, and/or expertise in arts.”

ETFO, the Union representing elementary teachers in Ontario says they think the arts should be a core subject. “I believe that a strong Music Program leads to better results in Literacy, promotes student engagement, critical thinking skills, team work,collaboration and so much more. All of which are critical to a child’s development.” Karen Bratina, ETFO Local President, told Kawartha 411. “It should be treated as a core subject.”

Sheddon says she’s proud of the program offered at local schools. “This has been a groundswell interest at the system level where people have said you know, what about the arts and we’ve been able to really put some good dollars there and support teachers right at the classroom level. The thing I’m most proud about is the consultants are working shoudler to shoulder with the teachers in the classroom.”