Remarkably, Hadley will have no Jazz Band or Drama this year due to a lack of faculty who will work on this. As I recall from Lincoln, PTA picked up the slack for things which were not faculty instructed. But, as I recall, they had a faculty rep. Do we need a coordinator on faculty or an instructor at Hadley?
Could we possibly release some of the money which our PTA/LWV political action committee uses for tax increases and get a jazz instructor or drama program for our children? There are plenty of musicians, and there are plenty of parents who help with drama club. And there is plenty of money if we can afford to give it away to referendum politics.
Please don't give me the "FBI screening" nonsense. It doesn't happen in the grade schools for parental involvement.
How about we attend a Hadley PTA meeting together to put forth the suggestions on ways the leadership can spend the money? Last year, I remember there was an e-mail regarding a very successful magazine sale campaign and an invitation for ideas on ways the money could be spent. Thankfully, for the PTA leadership last year, GrowingD41 helped drain some of the funds. Who needs enriching programs, when you can have a nice yard sign?
And if the PTA can't afford to help fund these programs, perhaps the administration can take a hard look at their budget. Now that the community has a newspaper dedicated to school news, do we really need a $100,000 per year community relations position? There's two teacher salaries right there.
They didn't have traditional drama last year either and my daughter, who was an 8th grader, was really looking forward to having a greater chance of getting a decent role because the best roles were usually given to 8th graders...so much for that. I didn't think it was a funding issue though...the former advisor started grad school.
Nonetheless, I do think it's worth approaching the PTA and/or administration to see what can be done.
"The most valuable things in life are not measured in monetary terms. The really important things are not houses and lands, stocks and bonds, automobiles and real state, but friendships, trust, confidence, empathy, mercy, love and faith. " -Bertrand Russell V. Delong
Posts: 3216 | Location: Glen Ellyn, IL | Registered: April 04, 2003
I thought their (excellent) jazz band was led the past several years by a certain mom (at least I didn't think she was faculty.) I always thought that jazz band was one of the neatest things about that school. They really rocked!
