Music. Laughter. Creativity. A community of artists together as one. All of this is palpable as you walk by room 102, the choir room. This joy is one of many being reduced next year due to budget cuts.
Next year, the choir program is forecasted to have a whopping 161 students in the program. Due to budget cuts, the 6-class choir program is to be reduced to .5 FTE, meaning that there will only be 3 choir classes. This means that each class will have roughly 54 students. The incoming choir director will be expected to work half time. When choir students heard about this, they were expectedly devastated.
“In the last three years of my life, choir has been more to me than just an elective,” senior Gavin Erickson said during a public comment at the Tigard Tualatin School District (TTSD) Board meeting on May 5. “It has shaped my identity and taught me how to express my emotions better than I knew how to put into words. Music has given students like me a way to be seen, heard, and understood in ways that no other subject does. Choir has also taught me how to collaborate and problem solve with others better than any other class I’ve taken. Learning and rehearsing music together has taught me to develop communication, teamwork, and leadership skills, things that I know will stay with me long after high school. But none of this would have been possible without a full-time choir teacher.”
The decision to reduce choir came after the district told the performance arts program at THS that they would be cut by .5 FTE. The axe fell on choir for most likely two reasons: seniority and an upcoming vacancy in the choir director position. However, TTSD never publicly stated why the cut landed on the choir program.
Legally, when making budget cuts, TTSD is supposed to prioritize seniority according to the Tigard Tualatin Educators Association (TTEA) contract agreement.
When a reduction in force takes place, the district determines which members will be laid off by, “Determin[ing] seniority of members to be retained, based on the first day of actual continuous service with the district and will include authorized leaves of absences,” (TTEA contract agreement).
But at what point does class size and professional success outweigh seniority? In the past four years, the choir program has sent various groups and students to state competitions. The program has also sent several students to the Oregon Music Educators Association (OMEA) Honors Choir in years past, a prestigious ensemble composed of talented musicians from all across the state. Such a flourishing program should not be forced to reduce itself to half its size when the program is doing such amazing, impactful things by giving students opportunities that they could not get elsewhere.
The TTEA contract does not take into account the diversity there is in classes. Just because a teacher has been there longer does not mean that another teacher or class is less superior. Just because a program has existed for longer does not mean that another program that flourishes above it deserves to be slashed.
Tigard’s choir program is one of the most substantial ones in the school at the moment and does not deserve to be on the chopping block. Cutting the program will not only reduce the arts, but shrink a home, a safe space that students have come to know and love. It will reduce choir students’ opportunities, students who have spent years dedicated to the program and singing.
For more information on how to support the choir program visit @ths.choir on Instagram.