Dear Board of Trustees and others whom it may concern,
My intention in this letter is to clear up some misinformation related to the basement of ARES School. As well as communicate to the board my desire to cling on to the Arts in public schools and their importance. And finally to lament the loss of other causes.
Moving nearly the entire South Creston School programs to the basement of ARES School has always terrified me. It is an awful thought to try and cram all of the wonderful programs they do into that space, as well as trying to share a gym with an entire school is ludicrous. That is hard enough to believe if the basement of the ARES School was not being used.
I am writing to inform you that it is most certainly being used and has been in use by an AMAZING band and Music teacher for the last 5 years. It isn’t an ideal space for him but he has been able to thrive in the quiet of the basement. He has brought beautiful and crazy fun music to his students and has been able to capture the attention of many precious souls. He has spent many hours rearranging the space in this so-called “unused” basement to fit in his variety of instruments, band chairs, and stands as well as have floor space for younger classes to sit and dance.
This wonderful service he provides for the school is a crucial part of the system is not only gives homeroom teachers much-needed prep time, also and more importantly brings the wonderful world of music to the lives of many children who would otherwise only hear what is played on the radio. He loves his students and knows over five hundred of them by name. He sacrifices much time, many of his own instruments, he devotes an entire vehicle, and all of his love has been dedicated to the children of the Creston Valley.
The thought of taking away his meager space and downgrading him to anything less literally keeps me up at night, in tears. These Children need him and music in their lives, it brings JOY! Something that isn’t seen often enough in this world!
I am saddened by the loss of many great programs in school systems over the years. In my own high school, we lost home economics. It broke my heart because I always wanted to learn to sew and cook. I eventually learned many of these skills on my own with the help of my wonderful mother, who took it upon herself to teach me anyway. As a seamstress, I see hundreds of people who can’t sew on their own buttons, and we have become a disposable clothes society, filling Walmart and landfills with garbage. I also bemoan the loss of cooking programs from schools in a culture where obesity reigns supreme. What a different world it would be if we had not given up these programs. I believe the social experiment has failed: take away these fundamentals and see what happens to our people. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to go back. This is why we must keep music and arts alive for our children, don’t let them go by the wayside.
Thank you for your time reading this letter. I want to reiterate the basement of ARES is in use! It does not have room for other vital programs to be crowded into there, it would be impossible to meet the needs of everyone. The music teacher is already spread incredibly thin and doesn’t have time or energy to be pushed into a dark corner. Please don’t do this to him or our Children or Creston. Please keep these amazing programs alive. They bring hope and community and grow stronger children. It is these kinds of real interactions between the softest kid and the hardest that keeps shooting out of schools. Keep our children alive, don’t help numb them by taking away their joy.
Sincerely.
Carla Simon, Creston