ALLENTOWN: Band practice time change strikes a sour note for some

By David Kilby, Special Writer
   ALLENTOWN — Upper Freehold Regional School District administrators are working to fill temporarily vacant staff positions and accommodate more students in extracurricular activities, which has led to a controversial time change for middle school band rehearsals.
   Band rehearsals at Stone Bridge Middle School now will be held at 7:20 a.m., 50 minutes before the school day officially begins at 8:10 a.m. Seventh- and eighth-graders will begin rehearsals Sept. 12, and sixth-graders will start Sept. 25.
   Changing the rehearsal time to before school was made to avoid scheduling conflicts with academic classes so more children are able to join the band. The move has been criticized by some parents, however, because it requires them to make alternate transportation arrangements for students who normally would take the bus.
   School board members discussed the controversy at the Aug. 15 Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education meeting.
   ”I think my biggest concern is the lack of parental input,” said Board of Education member Eileen Heddy. “The kids are really angry about it. They have legitimate concerns about the change.”
   School administrators, however, said the scheduling change was intended to help the band attract new students and retain the musicians already in the program because too many kids now are dropping band when practices conflict with classes.
   ”There had been a study last year, and there were parent sessions that parents were invited to participate in,” Dr. Fitzpatrick said in a phone message to The Messenger-Press. “The parents that did come were very much in favor of the program so that we could offer band outside of the school day so students wouldn’t have to pick between one (class) or the other.”
   Dr. Fitzpatrick pointed out the previous schedule during the school day prevented kids in the gifted and talented program and special education program from joining band because school-day rehearsals were held at the same time as their special program classes.
   ”So this was a strategy to try to offer more to our kids,” he said.
   The transportation issues associated with band practices held outside of the school day was a concern to the district, he added.
   ”We’ve done the best we can to try and come up with a solution, and, unfortunately, it would require parents to cooperate with us,” Dr. Fitzpatrick said.
   IN OTHER NEWS, Dr. Fitzpatrick said there are 27 new staff members who will be working for the district in September, many as temporary substitutes, sport coaches and teachers’ aides in positions that don’t lead to tenure. In fact, 18 staff members will only be in the district for part of the year, he said. Most of the temporary replacements are for teachers on maternity leave.
   ”This is a big difference from years when we only had two to three new teachers,” Dr. Fitzpatrick said.
   Projected school enrollment for the new school year is 2,378 students, Dr. Fitpatrick said, which is up slightly from the 2,350 students attending the district’s three public schools in June.
 The preliminary 2012-13 enrollment numbers include 582 students in pre-K to grade 4 in Newell Elementary School; 542 in grades 5-8 at Stone Bridge Middle School; and 1,254 students in grades 9-12 at Allentown High School.
   Students from Allentown and Upper Freehold comprise less than half of f the enrollment at Allentown High School. Most of the students at the high school are from Millstone, a K-8 district that pays tuition to send 667 students to Allentown High School.