Music Program

This year, within the Ipswich Public Schools, many classes and activities have been cut due to the schools budget.  The classes that have been brought to people’s attention and have seemed to upset the residents of Ipswich seem to be: chorus, band, and orchestra.  This has upset many residents within Ipswich, along with the students and teachers.  Is it right to take away students privileges that the previous grades have always had?  Most of us would argue “no,” but the fact is that the budget can’t seem to allow these classes to continue.

When talking to Ipswich High School’s chorus teacher, Mr. Patch, he began to explain how both he and Ms. Haltmeier were voluntarily running the Ipswich Middle School’s chorus class with no salary.  I  was able to understand that there was a problem with the Ipswich Middle School schedule, and this caused the chorus class not to have a specific time to practice.  Whether this will be cut from the Ipswich Public School’s budget is something that we don’t know yet, but this will continue to be a hassle for both music teachers until this is resolved.  “That can’t happen again next year,” says Mr. Patch.

On another note, Ipswich Elementary Schools might have to completely eliminate the music programs. Doyon Elementary School has eliminated band, chorus, and orchestra class from their schedule.  While Winthrop Elementary School has cut band and orchestra.  Is this fair to the kids in school right now?  I am a senior at Ipswich High School, and I think it’s extremely discouraging to see these classes get taken away from these kids.  One thing about Ipswich High School is we have a very good music department.  How are we going to be able to keep that reputation when we don’t even allow the students at school to have an opportunity to participate in these classes?  Maybe the budget is limited, but maybe we can work harder, as a community, to make these opportunities available to our students.

The cutting of these classes have also impacted the students.  Every student should have the right to study subjects that peak his or her interest.  Why take theses classes away and keep others?  Some can argue that the basic math and history classes are far more important, but “who says”?  Why is a math class more useful than a music class?  It all depends on what the student is interested in.  Some students are unbelievably gifted in academic ways,  while some students are gifted musically.  We have to allow the students of Ipswich to choose and at least have access to necessary classes.

Band, orchestra, and chorus are all classes that every student should have the option to take.  We need to think about the bigger picture and stop putting different people into the same classes.  This is the same with students; we need to start providing them with options from the beginning of elementary school.  These classes are extremely important, and the residents of Ipswich need to work together to find a solution to this problem.