Coupeville Sports

The trumpet wails no more, and the piccolo is silent.

The Coupeville School District likely killed its secondary music/band program Thursday, at least in the short term, as part of the first round of budget cuts.

By a 4-1 vote, the school board adopted a “modified education plan” brought forward by outgoing Superintendent Steve King, part of a move to ultimately slash up to $1.66 million in an effort to restore the fund balance.

Thursday’s cuts call for the likely elimination of the middle/high school music program as well as an elementary school specialist program “to be determined” — likely STEM or art/music.

The plan also authorizes the reduction of up to six certificated teachers.

King stated at an earlier board workshop that the district already has “papers in hand” for four teachers who are either retiring or resigning.

Potential teacher RIFs (Reduction in Force) and “impacted program reductions” have to be in place by May 1 by “state law and contractual obligations.”

Other cuts, which will need to account for close to a million of the $1.66 million — if current projections hold up — will likely be announced to the public by the end of May, King said.

In his presentation Thursday, the Superintendent, who has resigned and will depart at the end of the school year to be replaced by Shannon Leatherwood, offered hope the shuttering of the music program is not permanent.

“Recommended program reductions are temporary,” King said. “And the district is dedicated to restoring them when resources are available.”

The superintendent spoke of his own children’s positive experiences with music while growing up, and he offered an apology to Mary Western, a CMS 8th grader who spoke in favor of retaining the music program.

“I’m really sorry to you and your classmates,” King said.

In his presentation, the superintendent pointed to declining participation numbers as a primary reason for eliminating the music program.

Though, there is an elephant in the room everyone tiptoes around — the longtime CHS/CMS music teacher having spent much of this year on paid administrative leave after years of parent and student complaints.

The night’s public comment section was full of parents who spoke of the positivity of music and the growth in the Coupeville program they see under a replacement teacher.

“I’m so sad for these kids who won’t have access,” Erin Howard said. “Music is universal, and cutting this program, even temporarily, does a great disservice and will have a huge impact.”

Kerry Western, a kindergarten teacher and mother of three, talked about the growth she has seen in the three years her daughter Mary has been involved in the music program.

“She had no prior musical experience, and it has changed the life of my daughter,” she said.

Describing how Mary had come to her classroom this afternoon and played the flute “so beautifully,” she brought several in the audience, and on the board itself, to honest tears.

Board member Alison Perera, whose children are musicians, spoke to dual emotions warring in her.

As part of the board’s budget committee, she knows how hard Coupeville needs to work to repair its finances.

“When the neon lights started flashing five or six years ago, it should have been an enormous red flag warning,” Perera said. “We didn’t take heed and it has led us here.

“If we had course corrected, we might be able to make small changes now, but that’s not where we are.

“We have to take it seriously; we have to make our district solvent.”

But Perera also expressed the fear that once the music program is shut down, it may never recover.

To that, she proposed an amendment to the “modified education plan” concerning the music program.

Perera called for the word “elimination” to be struck and replaced with “reduction,” with the words “by up to $150,000” added.

She failed to get a second, however, and the amendment did not move forward.

When the vote was taken, Sherry Phay was the lone dissenting vote, with Perera and fellow board members Nancy Conard, Morgan White, and Charles Merwine approving the plan.

In the immediate aftermath, half of the room slowly trickled out, disappointment etched on their faces, as the meeting continued.

The mood in the Kathleen Anderson boardroom was muted. Much like the music program itself.

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