A Petition Addressed to Superintendent Murphy and the School Committee and Dedham Town Decision Makers:

There was no solution to the 4th and 5th grade instrumental music cuts over the summer.  While the track program was reinstated after spring cuts, the band program remained ignored.

A reminder: the cuts to the 4th and 5th grade instrumental program gut the 6-12 programs which are budding with growth, retention, and expertise, include over 100 students in the middle school alone, see participate in the MICCA Concert Festival and earn a silver medal, and some students are even getting accepted into Eastern Junior Districts and BYSO.

The cuts ruin the middle school program because the middle school schedule does not allow for instrument lessons, only full ensembles. Students coming from elementary school need to have prior experience and basic skills in order to continue to progress.

The most recent school committee update does mention that Ms. Kirby, Department Chair, and you are in talks with possible music education contractors, but this raises huge concerns:

Elementary families are unsure whether or not to renew contracts paying for rental instruments that they have this year
In addition to cuts, a new fee for all students borrowing DPS instruments who couldn’t afford a rental was put in place “to cover the cost of repairs.” But, at the end of last year, elementary students were made to return all the DPS band instruments for the summer, unless families paid a fee. 
Families have already decided what their kids’ activities are this year.  The schools did not provide instrumental music as one of the options, and now it is too late.
After-school programs, especially those that may meet in a different building (i.e. if all the kids came to “Band” at DHS) are glaringly inequitable.  Any child who is already somehow marginalized is further marginalized by a structure in which they have to acquire transportation to and from a program.
Families cannot pay for instrumental music.  And for the few of us privileged enough to be able to, we should not have to.
The cost of transportation, building-use and teachers far outpaces the cost of the original program.
Should a stipend be offered to current DPS music teachers, there is no way it would be financially fair.
Organizations like Dedham School of Music would have had to had a program settled over the summer in order to provide what DPS is imagining.
Historically, implementing contracted instrumental lessons has had little academic or enrichment success.
The folks discussing the future of the program have limited understanding of what the program actually needs.

As parents advocating heavily for the music program in DPS, we are disappointed.

These decisions give parents the message that music education is not valued in DPS. 

Many parents would have been excited to help research and write grants, negotiate and set up lessons, or find an actual solution to this problem.  When parents reached out to Heather Kirby, parents’ efforts were not considered.  Folks often received no response or a simple one-line email declining support.

Thus, we hereby sign this petition for DEDHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO REINSTATE THE 4TH AND 5TH GRADE INSTRUMENTAL PROGRAM AND CONTINUE TO BOLSTER THE MUSIC PROGRAM TOWN-WIDE.

Signed,