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Former board member urges Frontier to refill strings teacher, warns against precedent of cutting music staff
Summary
A former school board member, Kathy Doer, told the board during public comment that cuts to the orchestra/strings position would harm students and urged the board to fill the vacancy rather than reassign duties to non-experts.
Kathy Doer, a former Frontier Central School District board member and parent of a district graduate, used the board’s public comment period to urge the board to preserve the district’s music staffing levels and fill a recently vacated strings instructor position.
"The Frontier music program has been a shining part of this district... It is not the place where cuts should be made," Doer said, arguing the music program supports student discipline, academic performance and social connections. She said reassigning string instruction to a staff member who is not a trained strings teacher would "devalue the students in the orchestra." She urged the board to "rethink the plans that have been brought forth for the string slash orchestra position."
Doer framed the request as protecting academics and warned that not filling one retirement could set a precedent leading to further cuts. During the public comment exchange she identified herself as a former board member and called for the board to "do the right thing for the students. That's why you all ran for and were elected to the school board." A board member and district staff offered to provide a response after the comment.
The remarks came during the board’s regularly scheduled meeting after the budget hearing; board members did not take immediate personnel action on the comment. The district’s staffing and budget planning for next year remain subject to the board’s formal personnel approvals and any budget vote outcomes.
