Proposal for a

Music Education Program at

Beaver Valley School

Dawson DAtre
Cascade Superintendent and Board
03/20/2017
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Introduction
There are 5 schools in the Cascade School district, and currently all but Beaver
Valley School has some kind of music education program. I realize that the
reason for this is because it is a remote and necessary school, and therefore
has less funding and resources because it is so small, but I believe that having
a music education program would be very beneficial for the students. So I am
proposing that the Cascade School Board set aside the funds to support a
music education program at Beaver Valley. The rest of this proposal shall serve
to introduce myself and my investment in this topic, what the Beaver Valley
PTO has been doing in the absence of a music program, some ideas for what
this program could look like, and why it is important for the students of Beaver
Valley to have this opportunity.

My Background/Involvement
My name is Dawson DAtre. I am currently a Running Start student at
Wenatchee Valley College, and it is my hope to eventually become an
elementary teacher. My involvement with Beaver Valley began when two of
my younger siblings started attending the school in 2014. Since then I have
had many opportunities to become involved at Beaver Valley in various ways.

For example, last year I visited the school on many occasions to eat my lunch
with the students and to help with their recess, and I have also volunteered to
help with several local field trips such as skiing at Stevens Pass, and various
art projects at the Grunewald Guild. Ive also been able to interact with many
of the Beaver Valley students as a coach through the Plain Valley Nordic Team.
Through all of this and more I have grown to love this school and become
invested in the kids that attend it.

The Parent Groups Efforts

My last visit to Beaver Valley included taking pictures of the kids as they
participated in Movement taught by movement instructor Ellen Glass. This
was something that the Beaver Valley PTO funded, and Ellen came in once a
week for 12 weeks to teach the kids about rhythm and dance (see photo on
the title page).

This is just one of the many things that the Parent Group and the teachers
have done in the absence of a music education program. Over the last two
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years they have paid for and written grants to fund the hiring of different
music teachers, including two violin teachers. This year the schools parapro,
Sharlynn Parker, has written two grants to help cover the expenses of
purchasing half a dozen ukuleles for the students to use, in addition to taking it
upon herself to learn and teach the ukulele to the students.

So although there is not a complete absence of music education in this school,

so far it is very limited and only due to the fundraising efforts of the Parent
Group and Miss Sharlynn that the students have access to any of it.

The Need
The problem is that the Parent Group also does fundraising so many other
things at the school. They raise money to buy food for kids who would qualify
for free or reduced lunch but cant at Beaver Valley because they dont have a
cafeteria. They also raise money for field trips, extracurricular activities, and
currently their biggest project is raising money to build a new eco playground
at the school. So now they are feeling pressure to ask for more money from a
community that is already giving so much financiallyto the schooland to
many other needs in the valley.

In addition to this, the students are not currently receiving any kind of base for
music education, but rather glimpses into different aspects of music. This is
because they lack a consistent teacher and basic instruments to begin learning
with. What they need is a consistent program and a teacher who is there
regularly so that they can begin to learn the basics of music education through
things such as rhythm, music notation, and singing.

As Im sure you all are well aware, there are many known benefits of teaching
music to children at the elementary level, including increased language and
reasoning skills, better memorization, a greater sense of achievement, and
higher test scores. It also opens up more opportunities for integrated teaching
like learning fractions along with music notation, or studying the history of
different music styles or a certain instrument

These are the reasons I believe it would be so beneficial for the students at
Beaver Valley to have access to an ongoing and consistent music education
program. Creating this base for such a program at Beaver Valley would also
free up the Parent Group to focus on other fundraising goals, and provide
personal enrichment and valuable skills for the students.

Proposal and Ideas

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And that is why I am proposing that the Cascade School Board set aside a
yearly amount of money for the teachers of Beaver Valley to use to:

Cover the expenses of purchasing instruments for student use

Buy other supplies related to music education (music books, picks,
tuners, etc)
Provide opportunities for the Miss Sharlynn to further her music
education and teaching
Pay for other music teachers to come in and teach from time to time

As for cost, you all know better than I do what the budget for music programs
at the other elementary schools in the Cascade school district look like, but I
do know that the Parent Group paid $1200 for each teacher that they hired,

Conclusion
Although the Parent Group at Beaver Valley School has done an excellent job of
providing opportunities for the students to be exposed to different forms of
music and creative expression, there is still a lot that can be done to improve
the students experience of music. This can be accomplished by budgeting to
make more resources for the teachers of Beaver Valley to use start a music
education program.