UPDATE!!! AFTER A MEETING WITH PARENT REPRESENTATIVES OF BOTH BAND AND CHOIR PARENTS, THE SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS DECIDED TO HIRE BOTH A FULL-TIME BAND TEACHER AND A FULL-TIME CHOIR TEACHER!!!!

WE ARE SO VERY GRATEFUL FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE COMMUNITY, THE SUPPORT OF THE SCHOOL BOARD AND FOR THE BRAVE DECISION BY JED BOWMAN TO INVEST IN OUR HIGH SCHOOL MUSIC PROGRAMS!

Woodland Park High School has recently made the decision to combine the choral and music programs at WPHS under one music teacher position.

According to The National Board, the knowledge standard for music teachers is as follows:

Standard II: Knowledge of and Skills in Music - Accomplished music teachers consistently demonstrate outstanding performance and musicianship skills; comprehensive knowledge of music theory and history; and highly specialized knowledge in general, choral, or instrumental music as they provide students with high-quality, sequential instruction in music.

Colleges require incoming music students to declare in either vocal or instrumental music, not both. These are distinct and separate disciplines, not unlike medical doctors specializing in Psychiatry and Orthopaedics. Both are MD's but psychiatrists are not surgeons. Would you want your psychiatrist performing surgery?

This decision will lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding due to students transferring out of the school district to seek quality music instruction elsewhere. Equally tragic is that those students that remain will receive substandard instruction in whichever discipline the teacher did not specialize in. Education is not about filling holes and balancing budgets. It is about providing the highest quality education for our children.

As parents, students, educators and concerned community members, we call on the school board of Woodland Park School District RE-2 to direct the superintendent and high school administration to post and hire separate QUALIFIED vocal music and instrumental music teachers, each focusing on their area of expertise.