I was alerted to this letter to the editor in last month’s Oregonian by a colleague on Facebook:
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting the fabulous new auditorium connected to the Beaverton Arts and Communication school. The principal was so proud of every phase of the project from the new piano, to ballet flooring, to sound acquisition.
Sadly, I see the Beaverton School District is eliminating all orchestra classes in the district. $300,000,000 bond for the auditorium and no school orchestras. How shameful is that! With over $10,000 to educate a student, one would think that funding could be found for an orchestra. There are bands. Why not classical music funding? We have football, etc.
How about generous gifts, as Beaverton received for a football field, or grants? If nothing else, how about ONE city orchestra based at the auditorium for youth from all the Beaverton schools after school? That would at least give them some chance to continue their skills in music.
Bonnie Hensley
Beaverton
As far as I could tell from the district’s website (which is incredibly difficult to navigate), the bond that was issued (from which the construction of the auditorium at the Beaverton ACMS was funded) for the entire district’s construction/infrastructure needs was in the amount of $196,000,000. I’ve contacted the district to see if they are indeed cutting orchestra programs for the 2010-2011 school year. If anyone has any documentation on this plan, please email me with information (see the contact me tab above). Stay tuned for updates…