The school board reversed their decision regarding Chris Griffith this morning and he will return to his position at Rotolo Middle School. We are now working with district administration to ensure the terms of his reinstatement are formalized by the end of the week. Thank you for maintaining the pressure …
June 15, 2019
Final supporters
The Batavia School District has decided that we, the music students of Batavia, no longer need an orchestra director to learn. For the purposes of thinning out the number of music teachers, they have "let go" of the Rotolo Middle School Orchestra Director, Chris Griffith, leaving the students of Rotolo Middle School without proper leadership. They plan to replace him with one of the currently sitting band teachers. This is outrageous. The music department is an extremely crucial part of our education at Batavia; Chris Griffith is an extremely crucial component of the Batavia Music Program. It takes a special type of commitment, talent, patience, and knowledge to instruct a complex subject such as Orchestra. The dedication of Chris Griffith is unmatched. He doesn't do this job for the money or the opportunity; He does it for students. His webpage, http://mrgriffithstrings.weebly.com, is tailored to the needs of the students having pages for proper technique, proper instrument care, extracurricular music opportunities for students, music academic help, and more. Spending hours of his own time to create unique lesson plans for his students every day of every week, Chris Griffith 's dedication is unquestionable and awe-inspiring. There are important objectives that we believe have been violated. BPS has said that their commitments to students include, "Developing the whole child by providing a variety of learning experiences that extend beyond the classroom" and, "Focusing all resources — people, time and money — on the critical task of maximizing student success". You cannot develop a whole child by giving them a variety of learning experiences beyond the classroom if there is no one qualified to do so. Mr. Griffith is possibly the most qualified person to do such a job such as opening doors for students that they would not regularly receive. As for the proper allocation resources, the School Board as made a mistake by removing Chris Griffith from his position. The Batavia Music Program has been steadily growing for several years. From consisting of just a couple dozen to now over one-hundred, the number of applicants for orchestra in the Batavia School District is exploding. This is no time for the removal of the director of Orchestra. Not only will this benefit the students involved, keeping Mr. Griffith will relieve the stress on the many other teachers responsible for the care and education of those students. Also included on the BPS website, the promise that the Batavia School District will, "Cultivate a positive and productive working environment that attracts, develops and retains high-quality staff." This is also violated, seeing as Mr. Griffith is an extremely qualified, respectable, and genuine man. Mr. Griffith is currently the leader of Strings, an extra-curricular band of string students that perform around the city, a member of the Fox Valley Orchestra, the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, a 7 year decorated music director, and ISU graduate. His dedication extends beyond the call of duty and is extremely beneficial not only to the students of the Rotolo Middle School Orchestra but all of the students of the Batavia Music Program. Chris Griffith should be there to stay.
Updates
Reached 2,500 supporters
April 1, 2019
March 24, 2019
The petition just surpassed 1,000 signatures. I am finalizing a formal letter to the school board members to request a meeting regarding the staff termination.
Reached 1,000 supporters
March 22, 2019
Reached 100 supporters
March 22, 2019
811 Comments
he has helped me through the loss of my dad and came to his wake and has beet her for me through all my anxiety! best teacher ever! he treats his students as if they were his own and he lies what he does and at the end of the day he just wants what’s best for us!
As a former band director in Batavia, I am disappointed and outraged that the school board would make such a foolish decision. Sam Rotolo would be ashamed of the Batavia educational leadership for allowing this to happen. Batavia Music Buffs, don’t allow this!
My granddaughter has had him for an orchestra teacher for three years. Her interest in music has grown each year. I am a retired teacher and the first time I saw him I knew he was a special teacher. If you let him go you losing someone who cannot be replaced
He was my orchestra director in elementry school, and he convinced me to keep doing violin, which has helped me get through some pretty dark times. If he is rehired, he could also help others just like me and make them feel welcome no matter what
Chris Griffith is one of the BEST educators that Rotolo currently employs. It would be a big mistake to lose him, and it would devastate the Orchestra program. The strong arts and music programs in BPS were one of the reasons we bought a home here.
he should stay
I have been playing Violin for about four years. I can tell you that learning an instrument doesn’t just take 3 months. It took me weeks to learn the basic hand positions, how to hold my instrument, the flats sharps, etc. it took me about another year to learn how to shift, and I have yet to learn vibration. You cannot simply learn an instrument in 3 months, and expect to be able to teach someone else. This is a very poor decision
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The school board reversed their decision regarding Chris Griffith this morning and he will return to his position at Rotolo Middle School. We are now working with district administration to ensure the terms of his reinstatement are formalized by the end of the week. Thank you for maintaining the pressure …
June 15, 2019
Final supporters
The Batavia School District has decided that we, the music students of Batavia, no longer need an orchestra director to learn. For the purposes of thinning out the number of music teachers, they have "let go" of the Rotolo Middle School Orchestra Director, Chris Griffith, leaving the students of Rotolo Middle School without proper leadership. They plan to replace him with one of the currently sitting band teachers. This is outrageous. The music department is an extremely crucial part of our education at Batavia; Chris Griffith is an extremely crucial component of the Batavia Music Program. It takes a special type of commitment, talent, patience, and knowledge to instruct a complex subject such as Orchestra. The dedication of Chris Griffith is unmatched. He doesn't do this job for the money or the opportunity; He does it for students. His webpage, http://mrgriffithstrings.weebly.com, is tailored to the needs of the students having pages for proper technique, proper instrument care, extracurricular music opportunities for students, music academic help, and more. Spending hours of his own time to create unique lesson plans for his students every day of every week, Chris Griffith 's dedication is unquestionable and awe-inspiring. There are important objectives that we believe have been violated. BPS has said that their commitments to students include, "Developing the whole child by providing a variety of learning experiences that extend beyond the classroom" and, "Focusing all resources — people, time and money — on the critical task of maximizing student success". You cannot develop a whole child by giving them a variety of learning experiences beyond the classroom if there is no one qualified to do so. Mr. Griffith is possibly the most qualified person to do such a job such as opening doors for students that they would not regularly receive. As for the proper allocation resources, the School Board as made a mistake by removing Chris Griffith from his position. The Batavia Music Program has been steadily growing for several years. From consisting of just a couple dozen to now over one-hundred, the number of applicants for orchestra in the Batavia School District is exploding. This is no time for the removal of the director of Orchestra. Not only will this benefit the students involved, keeping Mr. Griffith will relieve the stress on the many other teachers responsible for the care and education of those students. Also included on the BPS website, the promise that the Batavia School District will, "Cultivate a positive and productive working environment that attracts, develops and retains high-quality staff." This is also violated, seeing as Mr. Griffith is an extremely qualified, respectable, and genuine man. Mr. Griffith is currently the leader of Strings, an extra-curricular band of string students that perform around the city, a member of the Fox Valley Orchestra, the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, a 7 year decorated music director, and ISU graduate. His dedication extends beyond the call of duty and is extremely beneficial not only to the students of the Rotolo Middle School Orchestra but all of the students of the Batavia Music Program. Chris Griffith should be there to stay.
Updates
Reached 2,500 supporters
April 1, 2019
March 24, 2019
The petition just surpassed 1,000 signatures. I am finalizing a formal letter to the school board members to request a meeting regarding the staff termination.
Reached 1,000 supporters
March 22, 2019
Reached 100 supporters
March 22, 2019
811 Comments
To let Chris Griffith go is a travesty - the students need him in a real and specific way. Let's not pretend that anybody can do his job. As talented as the band teachers might be, they do not have Griffith's expertise in string instruction.
he has helped me through the loss of my dad and came to his wake and has beet her for me through all my anxiety! best teacher ever! he treats his students as if they were his own and he lies what he does and at the end of the day he just wants what’s best for us!
As a former band director in Batavia, I am disappointed and outraged that the school board would make such a foolish decision. Sam Rotolo would be ashamed of the Batavia educational leadership for allowing this to happen. Batavia Music Buffs, don’t allow this!
My granddaughter has had him for an orchestra teacher for three years. Her interest in music has grown each year. I am a retired teacher and the first time I saw him I knew he was a special teacher. If you let him go you losing someone who cannot be replaced
He was my orchestra director in elementry school, and he convinced me to keep doing violin, which has helped me get through some pretty dark times. If he is rehired, he could also help others just like me and make them feel welcome no matter what
Chris Griffith is one of the BEST educators that Rotolo currently employs. It would be a big mistake to lose him, and it would devastate the Orchestra program. The strong arts and music programs in BPS were one of the reasons we bought a home here.
he should stay
I have been playing Violin for about four years. I can tell you that learning an instrument doesn’t just take 3 months. It took me weeks to learn the basic hand positions, how to hold my instrument, the flats sharps, etc. it took me about another year to learn how to shift, and I have yet to learn vibration. You cannot simply learn an instrument in 3 months, and expect to be able to teach someone else. This is a very poor decision
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To let Chris Griffith go is a travesty - the students need him in a real and specific way. Let's not pretend that anybody can do his job. As talented as the band teachers might be, they do not have Griffith's expertise in string instruction.