On Monday April 28th at Sandburg Education Center, kids from both Blaine High School and Coon Rapids crowded into a meeting room to discuss the fate of both band programs. With barely any standing room left, music students from both schools made it clear that they did not want their music programs to be messed with. But, let’s back up for a second and see how it came to this.

The Anoka Hennepin school district needed to make cuts in order to fit into next year’s budget. For band class that meant a cut in the department’s number of Full Time Employees (FTE’s). Currently Mr. Olson, the band instructor here at Blaine, is in charge of two bands and helps assist a third band run by a second band director.This equates to 1.25 in FTE’s. The proposal for next year is to reduce the amount of FTE’s granted by first, cutting one band director and second, reducing Mr.Olson down to .75 FTE’s at Blaine.

Blaine is not the only school this would affect. Coon Rapids band has been experiencing frequent turnover, experiencing 9 different directors over the past 11 years. Now, their orchestra will be reduced down to 2 sections instead of three, their orchestra director will direct a band class, and Mr. Olson will take over their top level band. The idea is to have music teachers rotating around these two high schools. Tim Brown, head of the Bengal Band Boosters who has been working to help the Coon Rapids band program explained that the School Board has been gifting Coon Rapids with more band directors but the situation is essentially a, “revolving door,” directors coming and going after a year.

The concerns of students and staff is the effect this decision will play on Blaine’s extracurriculars. Senior and dedicated band kid Zack Sorenson explains, “we can’t sustain our after school activities. This doesn’t affect just music kids. It also harms the football, hockey and basketball teams.” Junior Mariah Mullen agrees but explained the situation as a conveyor belt. Coon Rapids is at the end already bagged but Blaine’s Program is on the conveyer belt ready to be scanned and other schools’ programs are not far behind us. The Foley parade only has our marching band perform. “We are thanked afterwards by the public,” explained Sorenson. Next year Blaine is slated to host the district marching competition, but students worry if they will even have a director present to run their own marching program. Brown explained, “Marching band doesn’t stop to exist. The viability of the program is what is important.”

The Band Boosters agreed with the students’ concern but also point towards the impact this will play on the middle school students. With no full time band instructor here at Blaine, there is no one to recruit at the middle school level. The Band Boosters point to the efficiency of our program, “one section, one teacher, 80 students,” explained Tim. Boosters and students fear that cutting back FTE’s would harm the relationship that is built up with a director over time. Tim Brown worries, “students will not feel engaged.”

The plan proposed by the Boosters was to first, reinstate the 1.25 FTE’s. This is the status quo and as explained by the boosters, “is not a long term solution.” Second, re-evaluate how teachers are allocated. Linda Johnson, also a booster and parent of a band senior Joyce Johnson, advocated forming a committee between the school’s and the district to prevent a “revolving door” scenario from happening again.

The administration and school board view the situation differently. Mr. Phelps explained, “I tried to find a solution with all the schools, and it doesn’t always work out.” At Blaine FTE’s are allocated based on the number of classes you teach. Mr. Olson only teaches 3 classes total here at Blaine. School administrators believe that due to the amount of classes taught, Mr.Olson should be compensated based on that number. Currently, Mr. Raaen holds seniority in the band program meaning Mr.Olson has to be bumped to Coon Rapids for a class. Phelps explained that the ultimate problem is declining enrollment in the band program. Every year a personnel committee meets made up of all departments to figure out where these expensive FTE’s will be allocated. The consideration for this decision is always based on numbers.

After the meeting on Monday the 28th, and after listening to the compelling stories from both school’s speakers, the district decided to hold off on their final decision. Marci Anderson, Vice Chair of the Anoka Hennepin School Board, shortly after the meeting stated, “After hearing testimony at Monday nights board meeting, the school board has asked Superintendent Carlson to work with district Administrative staff on a short term solution for the Band Programs but also authorized the forming of a task force to examine the issue so that a long term solution can be found.  I think these are good options that will work because we have used these before to solve other similar challenges.”

How these next several months play out will determine the future of the band program. The music program will continue to exist. The question is how much will remain the same regarding teachers and after school activities.