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Parents, teachers and students tell board cuts to elementary and middle music programs are harming instruction
Summary
Public testimony at the Sept. 2 meeting blamed past restructuring and staffing patterns for the loss or reduction of elementary and middle school music programs and urged the board to listen to teachers and restore programs where possible.
At the Sept. 2 Fairbanks North Star Borough School District board meeting, several public speakers urged the board to revisit music‑education staffing and program decisions, arguing that prior restructurings and current itinerant staffing patterns have eliminated or reduced classes at multiple schools.
Erin Janoso told the board she returned to finish remarks about music education. Janoso described the 2022 restructuring that cut elementary band and orchestra positions and said the district later created district itinerant positions intended to preserve program integrity. "On the three years since that restructuring…this district has lost as many middle school band and orchestra teachers as approximately as there are middle schools in this district because the situation of these schools has been allowed to become unsustainable and untenable," she said.
Janoso offered three examples she said illustrated the problem: Ryan Middle School temporarily lost choir because a changed bell schedule made the itinerant choir teacher unable to reach two classes each week; Barnett (a K–8) dropped level band and orchestra so beginning students and eighth‑graders were combined in the same class; and Lathrop administrators had eliminated an entry‑level mixed choir in one case and formed a segregated special‑education choir — a situation Janoso said was later fixed only at the first day of school.
Janoso told the board that listening to teachers and working with staff would cost nothing but could help preserve programs; she urged leadership to support the educators who run the music programs.
Board members did not take formal action on the testimony during the meeting; superintendent and board comments elsewhere about budgets and staffing indicated that decisions on electives and itinerant positions are tied to district budget constraints and enrollment impacts discussed that evening.
Ending: The testimony was part of a broader budget and staffing conversation; board members asked administration to continue monitoring staffing and scheduling and to report back on class sizes and program availability as the district completes its early‑school enrollment and scheduling review.
