Reinstate Suzuki Strings In Jamestown Elementary Public Schools

Hi to ALL,

If you attended the School Board meeting last night, we THANK YOU, we do appreciate it!

We would like to COMMEND all five enthusiastic young violin students who attended, waited patiently and played beautifully in front of the Board! You were AWESOME !

This is what happened last night at the Board meeting through our eyes:

We were delegated to the end of the agenda. We had 5 young violin students sitting through the droning of 2 presentations that went on for more than an hour. By the time the Open Session was announced and we were granted permission to speak we were drained. The President of the Board of Education, admitted that it was planned that way on purpose to dry us up.. 

An important note is that during one of the preceding presentations, a State Audit follow up on JPS, we learned an interesting fact. The JPS actually gained 40 millions in net assets!! mostly from investments in properties... which leaves us wondering WHO do the properties belong to.. ?    ..and to think that JPS became rich in recent years in buildings and grounds, but poorer in educational choices..

Anyways, regarding our attendance. There was a total of 14 residents in the Open Session (including the young students).

This 14 amazing people are: Mrs. Catharine Regis-Green. Mr. Norman Lydell and his wife. Shannon Card and her daughter Lynea, Terri Garcia and her granddaughter Marissa, Todd Rushforth, with his daughter Connie and another young girl. Tom and Ronit Mecham and our kids Aaron and Boaz. All kids had their violins and were eager to play. Shannon Card had to leave at 8:30 (looked upset that we were held there all that time, couldn't stay any longer because other responsibilities).

When they opened the session for us, Tom spoke first and said: "we started the petition just to see if there is interest for Suzuki in the community, we gathered 500 signatures, these are voters.. and he handed the petition to the President of the Board who handed it to the Superintendent. Next, Terry Garcia spoke for few minutes and was a wonderful demonstration of why to keep early music in the curriculum. She was great. Then Mrs. Regis-Green gave a great speach of her long history with Suzuki and early music in school and the long term benefits for the students who participated in the program. Ronit read to the Board the list of Suzuki students who went on to become achievers, and also the comment from 

Maestro Bryan Eckenrode*. She asked the Board to not cut the legs of this community. She also requested that each of the Board members get a copy of "Why Are We Here Tonight" (which she did NOT read to the Board, and you can find it on the BLOG of this Online Petition). The president of the Board asked the Superintendent to get back to us with his answer and response soon.

The Board moved on to conduct the rest of their agenda, while the young girls in our group and their parents were deeply disappointed that they would not play in front of the Board, and so Ronit gently interrupted their motion and asked to allow the kids to play.. there was some "no" calls from the Administration and Board but the President said "yes, go ahead!"

The 4 kids (we missed Lynea) played Lightly Row in unison beautifully.

We felt that our impact was hindered by placing the Open Session at the end of the agenda. This was inconsiderate to do because of the presence of young students, which showed what little value the Board of Education and Administration hold for parents and students of the schools they oversee. But this was the Administration's only weapon.

We will post the Administration's response if and when we get it, here on the BLOG, so please check back.

REFLECTION: If we had MASSIVE attendance.. more "present but silent" teachers. More parents. And more young students with instruments our impact would be greater.

So that's more or less how things went last night.

If you have been there and would like to post your impressions from the Board meeting, please email it to   ronitmecham@gmail.com   and we will post it here on the BLOG. Or you can post it directly in the COMMENT section of this entry.

Thank you again for supporting this cause,

Tom and Ronit Mecham

* BRYAN ECKENRODE:

Cellist Bryan Eckenrode graduated cum laude from SUNY at Stony Brook and holds a Master of Music degree from SUNY at Buffalo. Mr. Eckenrode is principal cello with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. He is a member of the Lexington String Quartet, Voci d’ Amore, and Camerata; he has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Ars Nova, Erie Philharmonic Orchestra, Erie Chamber Orchestra, and the British Columbia Mozart Festival Orchestra.

He records with the International Baroque Soloists, and can also be heard on many CDs including Ani DiFranco, Sixpence None the Richer, Seven Day Faith, Them Jazzbeards, John and Mary, Allison Pepitone, and Them Jazzbeards, not only as a cellist but as a bagpiper and flutist. Mr. Eckenrode performed and recorded a series of film scores for silent movies issued by Turner Broadcasting, now available on commercial DVD.

He made his Lincoln Center Debut in 2003 and returned in 2006. He has performed with Musical Fare, Buffalo; Shea's Performing Arts Center, Buffalo and Art Park, Lewiston in performances from Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals to concerts with Rod Stewart. He is on the faculty of Niagara University, Canisius College, Daemen College, Jamestown Community College, and is the director of strings at Villa Maria College.

He is conductor and music director of the Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony which encompasses the Prelude Strings Orchestra and the Young Artists Orchestra. He conducted the 2006 Niagara All-County Orchestra Festival Orchestra and the 2007 Erie All-County Orchestra Festival at Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo. He is married to the internationally soprano Cristen Gregory.