Vernon school district compromises on music lessons

VERNON — The Vernon Township School District has decided to schedule lessons for high school music students during lunch periods starting in September, a compromise instead of the originally proposed ideas to have them during band or orchestra classes, or to discontinue them all together.
The decision to move the lessons, or sectionals as they are called in the district, comes after parent group, Vernon Instrumental Parents, brought their concerns with how this would affect the high school music program to an informational meeting with administration on April 20. After considering alternative options, the district told parents at the Board of Education meeting last Wednesday of their decision to hold sectionals during lunch periods, the way sectionals used to run in the district years ago.
“I believe that the music parents did a good job at the board meeting expressing their opinions last week,” Superintendent Art DiBenedetto said, “and I’m very hopeful that the compromise will be acceptable to most of them.”
Previously, sectionals were scheduled during academic courses, but according to DiBenedetto, the district is stressing academics and “pulling kids for anything from academic periods is frowned upon.”
He also said he conducted a survey among high school teachers, asking them if they’d rather students leave lunch or academic classes for sectionals, in which case 86 percent of those surveyed said they’d rather sectionals be during lunch.
In light of the recent success of the Vernon High School music department, the VIP said in a statement that parents feel any changes made to the program need to be made with careful consideration.
Most recently, the music department was recognized as one of the country’s “Best Communities in Music Education,” putting the department in the top 2.5 percent nationwide based on student performance and overall quality. The high school marching band also performed in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade in March.
"While we still believe that the decision to make any changes to the specialized music instruction program was arbitrary and unfounded," the VIP said in a statement, "we were successful in enlightening the administration and Board of Ed in its importance."
The challenge, according to DiBenedetto, will be to create a schedule where music students are in the correct lunch period for their sectional. Many of the music students also take Advanced Placement courses, he said, which can create conflicts when certain AP classes are only offered during one period.
The VIP also stated that science labs are scheduled during lunch periods as well, which poses another scheduling conflict.
While the VIP members still feel the original way of scheduling sectionals is the best plan due to these potential scheduling conflicts, they are “cautiously optimistic” about the district's decision.
“We are hopeful that the model including all students able to be scheduled of lunch periods, without conflicts, will become a realistic and feasible reality," VIP members said in the statement.
DiBenedetto said he believes most parents are satisfied with the compromise, but that will be better judged after a high school schedule is completed, which will not be for another three to four weeks.