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Parents and retired teacher urge Portland schools to restore music supervisor, expand programs
Summary
A Portland parent and retired music educator told the board the district has lost music staff and argued for restoring a music supervisor and more positions to make music offerings equitable across schools.
Annie Antonakis, a Portland High parent and professional musician, told the board on Jan. 21 that the district needs to restore central music leadership and hire more music staff to address inequities.
Antonakis said Portland once had three strings teachers across the district and that “today, we have just 1 over all 15 schools.” She said the district’s high school orchestra enrollment stands at “only 22 students left in our high school orchestra across all 3 high schools.”
Antonakis asked the board to add, in addition to a new strings position included in the upcoming budget, a music supervisor position (she suggested a half‑time role) to provide curriculum alignment, staff evaluation and transparent oversight of music budgets across buildings.
She read a related statement from recently retired music teacher Lisonbee Jachonski, who wrote that when she started teaching the district “had a $90,000 music budget” and that supervision and non‑music administrators once provided accountability and curriculum alignment. The statement said that today there is “little to no accountability for most music teachers,” uneven access to instruments and variable school budgets for equipment and supplies.
Why it matters: The public comment flagged district staffing and program equity rather than a single school’s complaint. Antonakis tied music staffing to literacy, memory and mental‑health benefits cited in research, and urged board consideration of a supervisory role to improve consistency and evaluation.
The board did not move to adopt new staffing changes during public comment; the speaker asked that the budget include a strings position and asked the district to consider a music supervisor.
