In 2016, Plano voters approved a 481 million dollar bond requested by the PISD Board of Trustees. A portion of that bond is allocated to the district’s fine arts program, including construction of a 68 million dollar performing arts facility.
So you can imagine our confusion to learn that despite the aforementioned bond, PISD currently has no plans to provide adequate staffing for its heavily enrolled musical programs—at least not at Renner and Wilson Middle Schools where it is losing talented musical directors due to a lack of staff and support.
Large schools need the resources necessary to staff and support multi-level, multi-instrument, multi-grade musical programs. And yet it appears the district either cannot afford this or is unwilling to budget for it.
We fully understand that the staffing for our schools comes from the district’s operational budget and not from the bond. But it leaves us wondering the following:
If the district cannot staff these programs sufficiently, why did it seek funds for a new arts building and improved music facilities?
At the end of the day, PISD students will not benefit from a performing arts facility or improved “space functionality” if the schools themselves are incapable of providing meaningful musical instruction in the first place.
This petition demands a review of the staffing needs of the musical arts programs in PISD and an explanation for seeking millions of dollars to create facilities for a musical arts program the district is unwilling (or unable) to adequately staff today.
This petition was inspired by the loss of Mr. Harris at Renner Middle School.
Renner Middle School has one full-time orchestra instructor, Cody Harris, who oversees, manages and personally teaches more than 200 students spanning three grades, covering four string instruments, and encompassing five ensemble levels. Notably, each of those ensembles participate in competitions and engage in multiple performances (at various locations) throughout the school year—all of which are coordinated by Mr. Harris.
To date, PISD has only provided Mr. Harris with one part-time assistant. I have recently learned that Mr. Harris resigned because this workload is untenable. I have also learned that another musical director from Wilson Middle School has resigned for the same reason: lack of support and staff.
Since PISD’s budgetary goals for 2017 – 2018 are to “maintain” current teaching ratios, it is safe to assume that there will be no increase in staffing for PISD’s musical arts programs. As a result, our children are going to be deprived of the support, instruction, encouragement and mentorship of talented and beloved musical directors like Mr. Harris.
It is unclear why PISD would seek millions of dollars to build a performing arts building when it currently has no plans to provide adequate staffing for its heavily enrolled musical programs—at least not at Renner and Wilson Middle Schools.
Was the real purpose of the bond to line the pockets of business developers and construction companies under the guise of supporting the arts in PISD?
