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Band director urges board to preserve Talmage Middle School program, warns AVID-style mandates have reduced instruction
Summary
Longtime band director Ed Propes told the board that proposed changes at Talmage Middle School have reduced practical music instruction, hurt retention of band students and contributed to teacher turnover; he asked the board to preserve the program and give future band teachers curricular latitude.
Ed Propes, who identified himself as the Central High School band director and a former Talmage Middle School band teacher, urged the Central School District board to keep the Talmage Middle School band program and to preserve teacher autonomy in how band is taught.
Propes said he spent 15 years rebuilding Talmageinto a program that fed high-school band enrollment and that the district historically retained 10 to 20 students a year from Talmage into Central High School's program. He cited broader research and district-level correlations: "The graduation nationwide for band students is 90.2% compared to 72.9% for students that do not participate," he said, arguing music participation is linked to higher attendance and graduation rates.
Propes said recent classroom expectationsnotably requiring slideshows, notebooks and AVID strategies in band classeshave reduced time for practical technique work (breathing, articulation, posture and sight-reading) and contributed to teacher frustration and turnover. "When you teach band, you already align with AVID strategies," he said, and asked the board to allow future band teachers the same latitude he said he was given.
The board acknowledged the public comment; there was no formal action on the band program at the meeting. Propes asked the board to "support the continuation of instrumental music at Talmage Middle School" and to permit teachers to structure instruction in musically appropriate ways to retain students and strengthen the high-school feeder program.
