ACTION ALERT: We need YOU! We are on the SC Agenda - PACK the ROOM - STOP the CUTS!

I need your help now more than ever - I have a mandatory work conflict during this upcoming School Committee meeting, which means I cannot speak in person. This is why I need our community to step up and represent us.

• When: Wednesday, September 9, 2026
• Time: Public Comment begins early at 6PM; Agenda items start at 6:15PM (Pilot Evaluation) & 7:15PM (Music Fees)
• Where: Wayland Town Building - 41 Cochituate Road, Wayland, MA 01778
• Goal: Fill the room, speak during public comment, and demand an IMMEDIATE RESTORATION of the music program for the 2027-28 school year! OBJECT to the unfair fee structure!

Being on the agenda does NOT mean the pilot will be stopped. It does NOT mean the 75 minutes of instrumental music will be restored. And it does NOT mean the concerns raised by hundreds of families have been resolved.

If we do not have a strong, visible presence in that room, the administration will assume the community has moved on. I am asking every parent, caregiver, and resident who cares about music, equity, and school governance to attend in my place, show up for public comment, and make our collective voice heard. Having this on the agenda is a major milestone, but an agenda item does not mean a win. If we do not show up in full force to demand actual oversight and a reversal of this decision, the administration will push this pilot through.

WE NEED OUR ELECTED SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS TO DO THEIR JOB!

The School Committee has been repeatedly asked to re-evaluate this pilot. That means they have a responsibility to look BEYOND the administration's presentation, ask questions, and examine the evidence. We need them to examine the assumptions behind the schedule. We need them to ask whether the stated problem requires sacrificing the most important parts of instrumental music: the small-group instructional lessons where students actually learn how to play their instruments and read music. Students are losing the most valuable instructional time and being left with ensemble. But children cannot be expected to succeed in an ensemble without even having the time to develop the foundational skills they need to participate in it!

We need the SC to listen to the majority!  We are not asking the SC to stop caring about literacy, science or social studies. We are asking them to stop treating music as the easiest place to take time from. So please, SHOW UP AGAIN! Our last turnout mattered & the SC heard us. Now let's show them that we are not going away!

DEBUNKING PRINCIPAL JONES’S RECENT EMAIL TO LOKER FAMILIES:

(A quick note regarding Principal Jones: This is not personal. I like and respect Principal Jones, but I strongly disagree with this decision and the arguments being used to justify it. We can like and respect someone while still challenging their decisions and advocating for our children.)

Principal Jones recently sent a letter to Loker families attempting to justify cutting 4th and 5th-grade instrumental music. His claims are fundamentally misleading, ignore educational research, and obscure the reality of what is happening in our schools. Here is the truth behind his arguments:

1. Music IS Core Brain Development and NOT an "Extra"

• Principal Jones Claims: Music is a pull-out elective taking away from "core content".
• The Reality: Neuroscience consistently demonstrates that instrumental music activates EVERY MAJOR AREA OF THE BRAIN simultaneously – developing auditory processing, memory, spatial reasoning, and discipline. This is one of the reasons WHY Wayland’s elementary school students perform so strongly against other districts is PRECISELY because of our rich, comprehensive arts and music foundation. Music is core instruction. Many schools do not have our music program, and their students do not perform as well. The evidence is there – we are developing EVERY MAJOR AREA of their brain with 75-minutes of music instruction each week.

2. The Myth of "Paused Learning" & "Lost Instructional Time"

• Principal Jones Claims: Non-music students "lose 41 hours of instruction" while waiting for music peers. This is misleading. There is a critical difference between not advancing to new curriculum content and not receiving instruction.
• The Reality: Non-music students are not sitting idle staring at a wall. They are in Skills Lab, which is a TARGETED instruction time where students, especially struggling students, can receive small-group support, practice, and work toward mastery in areas they are struggling.
• Mastery vs. Rushing: A student who needs reinforcement in math or literacy benefits far more from dedicated practice time than from being rushed into new curriculum material before mastering the last concept. Principal Jones frames targeted learning support as "lost time" because it doesn't move through curriculum pages faster. He is trying to push classrooms through more curriculum materials. That is not educational progress – it is simply moving faster.

3.The Science & Social Studies "Deficiency" Fallacy

• Principal Jones Claims: Science and Social Studies receive "less weekly time than pull-out electives".
• The Reality: Wayland’s middle school DESE data shows that our students consistently rank in the TOP PERCENTILES STATEWIDE in Science and Civics. There is ZERO evidence of an academic crisis in these subjects.
• The Real Elementary Shift: While claiming a need for more content time, the elementary schools are increasingly placing 2nd and 3rd graders in front of computers to practice for digital MCAS tests instead of prioritizing fundamental motor skills, penmanship, and deep learning. They are prioritizing test metrics over real student development. The administration is willing to put children in front of screens to prepare for a test, but is unwilling to protect instructional time for music, hands-on learning, and the fundamental skills children need to develop. THAT IS A PROFOUND MISPLACEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PRIORITIES BY OUR ADMINISTRATION AND SCHOOL COMMITTEE!

4. The "Co-Teacher" Distraction

• Principal Jones Claims: Adding a second teacher to 45-minute blocks makes up for losing 30 minutes per week.
• The Reality: No amount of co-teaching replaces lost time learning an instrument. Cutting 30 minutes a week deprives young musicians of the repetition and guided instructional duration required to build foundational technique.

5.  And Then There Are the Details… Look Closely at What the Administration Is Actually Saying

• There is much more buried in Principal Jones’s letter and what the Administration is saying that deserves scrutiny:
• “The schedule was built around music teachers.” If the problem is the master schedule, why is the solution to reduce student instruction rather than fix the schedule? A scheduling problem is an administrative problem and NOT a reason to permanently reduce a successful student program.
• “Music creates inequity.” Reducing music for the students who participate does NOT create greater access or equity. It reduces the educational opportunity available to everyone. If cost or access is a concern, address access. Don't solve an equity concern by giving children less music.
• “Some families and educators support moving instrumental music entirely outside the school day.” This is presented as evidence of community support, but how many families? How many educators? Were they specifically asked whether they supported cutting 40% of instructional time? General support for more science, social studies, or instructional time is NOT the same thing as supporting this specific tradeoff.
• “We are listening to all voices.” HUNDREDS of families have signed this petition, called, emailed, and shown up to School Committee meetings. Listening is not the same as responding. The community has been extraordinarily clear about what we are asking for: restore the 75-minute program.
• “The 45-minute block will be effective and impactful.” That is a prediction NOT evidence. The district is now going to measure whether students can maintain their musical growth with less instruction after the reduction has already been imposed. We should NOT have to prove that our children can learn with less before the district is willing to preserve what they already had.
• “We are committed to artistic expression.” You CANNOT meaningfully claim to protect artistic expression while simultaneously cutting 40% of the instructional time devoted to learning an instrument.
• “Equity across classrooms.” Equity does NOT mean giving every child the exact same experience. It means ensuring EVERY child has meaningful access to the educational opportunities they need. Students who choose music should not have their opportunity reduced simply because the administration has not found a better way to structure the schedule.
• And finally: the district is asking families to pay the same $150 fee while providing 40% less instructional time. The School Committee is now considering a fee reduction, but a lower price does not restore the lost educational opportunity.

These are not isolated issues. They all point to the same underlying problem:

The administration has identified a series of scheduling and instructional priorities and repeatedly treated instrumental music as the expendable piece of the puzzle.

We should be asking why. There are so many “WHYS” and unanswered questions beyond this — including the district’s new CKLA and Caminos curricula, which were implemented this year to address the very literacy concerns also being used to justify this scheduling change.

Do your homework. Read the actual standards. Look at the data. Look at what the district told us in June versus what it is telling us now. The claims sound compelling until you actually examine them—even the data and standards being cited to justify these decisions.

OUR CHILDREN DESERVE BETTER than having their music cut simply because it is the easiest thing to take away.

I also want to repeat this point: Our elected officials work for us and not the administration.

Our public school administration works for the students, families, and taxpayers of Wayland, and not the other way around. Administrators are not infallible, and when their logic relies on misleading claims and flawed premises, it is our responsibility as a community to hold them accountable. 

If our elected School Committee members refuse to exercise meaningful oversight and allow administrators to erode proven programs without empirical evidence, we should remember this at the ballot box. And if you are a community member who believes you can do a better job representing our students, families, and taxpayers, I encourage you to step up and consider running for School Committee. Our community needs people who are willing to ask hard questions, demand evidence, and truly advocate for our children.

So lets - PACK THE ROOM at the upcoming School Committee Meeting!

Public comment matters. Step up, bring your signs, and let the board know that we will not accept broad-speak explanations, unequal fee structures, or cuts to our children's education. I hope families will turn out in force. The administration has made its case. Now it’s our turn to make ours, and to make sure the School Committee hears us.