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Parents and music teachers urge board to restore eliminated Jazz 2 courses amid staffing freeze

Richland School District Board of Directors · August 26, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Multiple parents and district music staff urged the Richland School Board to reinstate middle-school Jazz 2 classes cut after a hiring freeze, warning the change threatens a pipeline into high-school music programs and harms student engagement.

Several parents and music educators used the public-comment period to urge the Richland School Board to reverse cuts to middle-school Jazz 2 programs they say were eliminated when the district implemented a hiring freeze.

Kevin Laws, director of band at Enterprise Middle School, told the board that the freeze eliminated contracts traditionally evaluated yearly, leading to termination of Jazz 2 teacher positions across the district. "Two weeks ago, we were told to confirm our Jazz 2 teachers...and then a week later we were told these positions had been eliminated," Laws said, listing…

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