Parents and administrators seek fixes as Lyman Hall music enrollment falls sharply

Jennifer Lanzoni, president of the Lyman Hall Music Parents Association, told the Wallingford Board of Education on Monday that her son missed a music theory course he had been advised to take and that the district should “determine what that root cause really is so we can find a solution.” Lanzoni said Lyman Hall has had multiple band directors in recent years and low enrollment has prevented some catalog courses from running. Assistant Superintendent Latour described the district’s scheduling process: students enter primary and alternate requests in PowerSchool in January, counselors verify requests, and high-school administrators evaluate courses based on full-time-equivalent (FTE) staffing and primary-request counts. Latour said music theory at Lyman Hall had eight primary requests and nine alternates this year and that administrators must weigh running low-enrollment electives against maintaining equitable schedules across both high schools. Mr. Corso, a district scheduling official, and Latour said COVID restrictions and staffing changes depressed high-school music numbers. Corso said Lyman Hall band membership was about 106 before COVID and measured 28 this year; chorus numbers fell from about 65–70 to roughly 18. He said the district recently hired Riley George as a band teacher and that the administration has shared staff between schools when enrollment warranted: “We had one of the Sheehan music teachers come over to Lyman Hall last year to provide instruction.” Board members and administrators discussed potential responses: alternating low-enrollment electives on an odd/even-year cycle, intentionally announcing multi-year schedules so students can “bank” an elective, combining band programs temporarily between Lyman Hall and Sheehan to strengthen marching-band participation, exploring cross-curricular electives (for example, music plus English), and targeted outreach to middle-school and upper-elementary students. Board members and staff emphasized middle-school elective choices and state graduation requirements as constraints on high-school scheduling. Administrators noted tradeoffs and costs. Corso said adding a single teacher section can cost approximately $12,000–$17,000 depending on step placement and that the district must balance budgets while trying to keep staff at full time. He also said some students already pursue college-level or online courses by petition if a district course is not available; those options typically carry family expense. There was no formal vote or policy change on music curriculum at the meeting. Board members asked administrators to pursue follow-up steps including collecting enrollment and staffing data, surveying students and families (administrators said an optional spring survey of eighth-graders had been distributed via ParentSquare to band students), and bringing possible course-cycling or shared-staff proposals to future instructional/operations meetings.