Everlasting Odyssey

PLEASE STOP YOUR SCROLLING AND READ THIS: Hello there all who are reading. As you all probably know, schools and school boards can be very annoying, and my school has done something which has pissed off A LOT of people.  My high school’s band director, Mrs. Koziol-Kenyon (on the right in the picture) has been unjustly replaced.  This is a problem not only because she has been teaching at my school for over 14 years and all of us band people are like a family, but because our school system’s band program has been getting less and less support over the past few years.

The downhill streak started when the high school’s band practices were kicked out of the school curriculum and set to after school every other day. It continued to worsen when band was removed entirely from the two middle schools and set before school less than once a week, only kept going by the schools’ music teacher who wanted to continue band.

The past year, however, was different and it led all of us to have good expectations for this coming year.  Band was moved back into the schedule at the high school, the extra practice improved how we sounded, and it was the first year Mrs. Koziol-Kenyon did not receive a pink slip at the end of the year, as she normally does. We even started having summer practices and had plans to send in an audition tape to Disney World so we could play there!  

ALL OF A SUDDEN our hopes and happiness was crushed. Mrs. Koziol-Kenyon got a notice last friday (7/19/2013) saying that she was replaced.  This resulted in her cancelling the rest of our summer band practices which means we won’t have enough practice to send in an audition tape for Disney too.

OK NOW I AM GOING TO TALK ABOUT ALL OF THE MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH THIS SITUATION IN NUMBER FORM:

The school people lied to her and gave her no notice: They told her she had a spot for this upcoming year and allowed her to plan everything out then went back on their word and took it all away.  They also told her to remove all of her stuff from the band room within three days after informing her of her replacement. Does it really seem right to do that to anybody?

The guy who got the job is not qualified in any way: This past year was his first year teaching and he was part of a small group of teachers instructing the fifth graders (who were new with instruments because fifth grade is when you can join school band in my town).  From what I have heard from anonymous sources, he has made children cry and many of them did not like his teaching.  From what I saw at all band night (a night where each band from each school plays songs for each other and our parents and everything) he seems like he is not the nicest person.  When he introduced the fifth graders he did not credit any of the other teachers, he pronounced his name weirdly fancy, and he also said something which everyone believed was an insult to Mrs. Koziol-Kenyon who had directed the fifth graders the year before.  Overall he just appeared to be extremely conceded and rude.  He is also not qualified because he does not have any high school band experience. He was not even in his own high school band. This will lead him to be completely clueless when it comes to instructing us and I personally believe that the once warm, friendly band environment is going to turn icy and hostile. 

The school did not even post the job: This guy just got the job without it ever being made known to the public that the job was available.  There was a job opening to replace our chorus teacher who retired, but not the band teacher.  The chorus teaching job was given to someone who definitely deserves it but the fact that the band teaching job was never even made open to anyone else makes this situation extremely suspicious.  If it had been open then (and I know this for a fact) Mrs. Koziol-Kenyon would have applied as well as other qualified music teachers from the area.  I have also heard from anonymous sources that he was bragging about working at the high school not just after he got the job, but months before.

IT REALLY JUST MAKES NO SENSE: It feels like they’re trying to destroy the band program and I don’t see why they would want to.  Other schools, in my state as well as throughout the country, have excellent band programs and all of the funding put in allows bands to travel to festivals which provides good publicity to the bands’ schools.  Students who are in band or play instruments are also more likely to excel in their other school work too.  This website here that I have provided a link to states 18 benefits of playing a musical instrument.  Having a band program also provides students wishing to pursue music as a career with experience prior to college.  For example, those who wish to teach are able to experience the atmosphere of a band class as well as learn teaching methods from their instructor and those who wish to become performers are able to improve their playing and performing skills.  There are only positive aspects to having a school band program so no one understands why removing it would be a smart idea.

OK TUMBLR HERE IS WHERE YOU COME IN:

A few friends of mine have created THIS FACEBOOK PAGE as a petition and it would be awesome if all of you with Facebook accounts could go and like it.  This page will be shown to the superintendent and the school committee to help persuade them that what they have done is wrong.  You don’t have to live in my town or be in band to show your support either.  We just need everyone who is against the situation.  I am also going to tag this with everything imaginable so that as many people can see this as possible. It would be awesome if you guys could tell your friends about this too.  I know that Tumblr can be very powerful when it comes to things like this and it would be great if you could all help.