Thank you for signing our petition to support Riverside Brookfield High School music students in our campaign to stabilize the music department staffing. For too long, our band, orchestra, and choir students have lived with the instability of an understaffed department.

Since launching this petition on February 7, 2024, we have gained 2,100 signatures and hundreds of comments and messages of support. Dozens of emails were sent to our elected District 208 Board of Education and many parents and students have attended Board meetings to provide public comment.

As a music parent's organization, we're gratified to see that our enthusiasm for arts in our schools is shared by the community at large, whether or not they have students at RB. Great communities have great schools and great schools have robust arts programming.

Unfortunately, despite months of effort in bringing facts, comparisons, best-practices, and community sentiment to the Board of Education, they are unmoved. We seem to be stuck at this sub-optimal 2.6 FTE number -- meaning two full-time and one part-time music teacher. It will only cost the taxpayers an additional $15,000 in salary to do so -- meanwhile, our administrators pull in a collective $1.3M a year.

We have published a Campaign Update to share our progress as well as additional data points. Please give it a look and help us share it, and this petition widely!!

Thank you for your continued support!!