Keep Elementary Band & Orchestra in Northshore SD!

NSD is cutting the 5th grade band and orchestra in the fall. Help us keep some kind of Band & Orchestra at the elementary level!

Facing a $26M shortfall, the Northshore School District administration and school board have made plans to move forward with cuts (King5 News article) to the district’s 5th grade Orchestra and Band program beginning this fall. This means that current 4th graders will not get an option to play in band or orchestra this fall. (This will be the first time this has happened in 40 years!) We, a group of parents, believe there is a chance to save a program with Dr. Benham's insights and guidance and, ultimately, parent advocacy. This GoFundMe is to pay for the efforts of Dr. Benham to support us, the meetings and the outreach efforts. (Read a breakdown of what we hope this GoFundMe would pay for.)

https://youtu.be/rEZ7SyM1MDw

If your company would like to match your donation, please donate to our partners at the non-profit, Project Clikk, and all proceeds between April 11th and April 21st will be donated to our cause.

We need as many arts supporters as possible to attend the public meeting on Saturday, April 20th, 9:30am - 11:30am at the KPC to become better informed, show your support, and have your opinions heard!

Why Dr. Benham?

Dr John Benham, is a national financial music consultant and music education advocate who has 40 years of experience helping parents save their band, orchestra and choir programs. His approach is to educate parents on how to have a voice and advocate for music programs, use his own research and our district data to create a report and recommendations on the impact of these budget cuts in order for us and the district to understand how this cut will impact the budget longterm, and, lastly help to unite the teachers, parents and the district to build a path forward. Dr. Benham has already been meeting with parents and community members, been on many phone calls, and working with us (parent group) to gather the data and build the report. He will spend an entire week (April 15-21) in Seattle educating us on what we can do, meeting with teachers and hopefully meeting with the administration to share his findings. There will be a public meeting for parents, students and anyone else to attend on Saturday, April 20th from 9:30am – 11:30am. At the Kirkland Performance Center where Dr. Benham will present a report on the impacts of the budget cuts and provide his insights and recommendations for an improved program that benefits all.

Dr. Benham is our biggest hope in strengthening our case to keep a 5th grade band and orchestra program in the elementary schools. Based on his preliminary work, we already know that cutting 5.4 music teachers in NSD will result in the district having to hire 8.0 teachers a few years. Watch this 4 minute video to understand more. If we are able to reach our Go Fund Me goal, these are the things Dr. Benham will be able to help us with:

What is our goal?

Ultimately, our hope with this effort is for everyone to come together to create a plan to provide a band and orchestra option for this fall's 5th graders that also supports choir. We acknowledge that the current program is not ideal and welcome ideas to make it better for everyone in the most fiscally responsible manner. We need to spread the word to all the families who have young children and will be directly affected. Please help us.

What will the money be used for?

$8,000 + lodging, food and transportation for Dr. Benham's work. It may sound like a lot of money, but he has already been working day and night to help us behind the scenes. Plus, he will spend an entire week with us helping to advocate and educate. His knowledge has already been invaluable and if there is any hope that we can save our program, it is because of his insights and knowledge in this space. At the end of the day, the small group of parents who originally hired him, did so with the hope that we can make a difference in not just our children's lives, but the lives of every future 5th grader in our district. None of us would be able to sleep at night if we didn't take a chance and do SOMETHING.

Why use a GoFundMe?

We realize that GoFundMe is not ideal, but it was the quickest and easiest way to start to collect some money to defray our costs. The whole effort has been very grass roots, so we didn't think standing up our own non-profit would be a quick solution and plus it would cost time and money just to get one put in place. We are working with Project Clikk, a non-profit, to see if they can help us. We would also love it if a NSD booster club would be willing to help. Please reach out to us if you have connections to a non-profit who would be willing to support this initiative.

Who manages the GoFundMe?

Two parents, with kids at Cottage Lake Elementary, manage the account. They were part of the original group that hired Dr. Benham and one of them signed the contract to pay Kirkland Performance Center. If you have more questions or are willing to help in fundraising, please reach out to us at saveNSDmusic.org

Most importantly, please attend the public meeting on April 20th, 9:30am - 11:30am at the KPC to become better informed, show your support, and have your opinions heard!

To learn more about this effort, please review our FAQ’s page.

If your company would like to match your donation, please donate to our partners at the non-profit, Project Clikk and all proceeds between April 11th and April 30th will be donated to our cause.