BATTLE GROUND — Students and community members pushed back against the Battle Ground Public Schools board Monday over recent middle school program cuts, particularly over the recent decision to eliminate choir at Chief Umtuch Middle School.
The Battle Ground Public Schools board late last month voted to eliminate choir, technology, Spanish and other electives at middle schools throughout the district, which will result in the loss of 15 specialist positions at those campuses.
Meanwhile, all schools districtwide will start an hour later every Wednesday to give teachers “regular and consistent time for collaboration and professional development.”
Superintendent Mark Ross said the cuts were the result of a yearlong conversation about how to offer teachers more time to collaborate. Only middle school teachers had that opportunity when their students were in their elective classes, according to the district.
Some schools, however, offered additional electives specific only to those campuses, such as choir at Chief Umtuch. District officials say in an effort to offer equal opportunities for students at all middle schools, the district will only be offering gym, visual art, band and a science and technology elective at all of its middle school campuses.
In a letter to parents, the district added that the cuts will “result in a cost savings for the district at a time when state funding for public education is changing so that there are increased restrictions that limit how districts can spend local levy money.”
That’s an allusion to last year’s school funding legislation, which will next year drop the amount of money districts can collect in local levy dollars while limiting what those funds can be used for.
But choir students, as well as their parents and some teachers, urged the board to reverse the decision. A Change.org petition in support of choir teacher Douglas Orofino had more than 1,300 signatures as of Monday night.
Andrea Isom, whose daughter attends Chief Umtuch Middle School and is enrolled in choir, called the decision to cut choir “profoundly sad.”
“You are not only cutting off the intellectual part of education, but you are silencing the voices of a generation,” Isom told the board.
Isom’s 13-year-old daughter, Lorelei Hunsaker, also pleaded with the board to restore the program, saying choir has been a bright spot during “hellish” middle school years.
“By removing (Orofino) and taking him away from Chief Umtuch, you are removing a stalwart for education and positivity in our school,” she said.
Erika Uribe, a music teacher at Captain Strong Primary school, is worried about what students may miss out on by not having access to choir in middle school. She noted that through her own tumultuous middle school experience, choir “was the one place where I felt like I belonged.”
“For them not to have the same opportunities as they go into middle school is just heartbreaking,” Uribe said.
Ross said the district hopes, pending board approval, to hire Orofino to teach at Prairie View High School next year.
