Music, art should be priority, board member says

Music and art should be included in the elementary school curriculum, especially in the primary grades and class size does very much matter.

Those were issues that Enterprise Board of Education member Dr. Danny Whitaker brought to the table at the nearly three hour work session held Aug. 16 at Holly Hill Elementary School.

Whitaker, who is a pediatrician, said that the school board should consider rearranging priorities to include music and art in the curriculum for the system’s six elementary schools.

“Currently we have three music teachers in our elementary schools,” Whitaker said. “The total cost for their salaries and benefits is $193,082.

“The cost for adding three more music teachers would be $193,082, giving us one music teacher in every elementary school,” Whitaker said, adding that he realized that the funds would have to be provided locally, “because funding for teacher units is limited by the state.

“The state of Alabama funds the minimum so we have to decide what is important for our students,” he added.

Whitaker cited results of an experiment that randomly selected more than 11,500 students and 1,300 teachers in 79 elementary schools across the state of Tennessee for a three-year period.

In the experiment, Whitaker said, classes were divided into some with between 13 and 17 students and classes of between 22 and 25 students. There was equal representation of demographics and student abilities in each group, Whitaker said.

The results indicated that the math and reading standardized test results were better for the smaller classes, Whitaker said. Academic success continued every year the students were in smaller class sizes from kindergarten through third grade and even continued into the eighth grade, Whitaker said, adding that children from lower socio-economic groups displayed the largest gains academically.

“Smaller classes are better for young children because teachers have more time and attention to devote per child,” Whitaker said. “Research shows that both smaller class sizes at the kindergarten through third grade and weekly music education produces higher standardized test scores.”

EBOE president Dorothy Richards suggested that individual teachers could incorporate basic music and art instruction into their respective classes. “You probably went to a more elaborate school that I did,” she said to Whitaker.

Whitaker noted that administrative costs “within and around the central office”’ have increased more than $1 million in the last three years. “$1,042,254, to be exact,” he said.

That increase is also the result of the creation of new administrative positions in the central office, and the addition of positions in the central office to include an administrative assistant, purchasing agent and a system bookkeeper.

The addition of four assistant principals and supplements paid to three teachers who are now classified as math specialists and to eight teachers who are now classified as instructional partners is also part of that $1 million increase, Whitaker said. Additionally, there has been an increase in multiple administrative salaries when their positions were elevated from coordinator level to director level, he added. “We have to decide where we put more priority.”

“The board hired me to improve test scores,” Enterprise Schools Superintendent Dr. Camille Wright told Whitaker. Increased professional development for educators is part of that process, she said.

Professional development is needed, Whitaker said. “But at some point we’ve got to put a cap on it.

“Enterprise City Schools spends more money on professional development—when broken down on a per student basis—than some of the surrounding systems, Whitaker said. ECS’s professional development cost per student is $103. The Dothan City Schools’ professional development cost per student is $92. Houston County Schools’ professional development cost per student is $64 and Coffee County Schools’ professional development cost per student is $85.”

“We can add more music and art but at the expense of what,” Wright asked. “Something has got to go.”