Longtime Gilroy High School band leader Joey Fortino is leaving
the school
– a development that raises lots of questions. The reason, he
says, is that the Gilroy Unified School District no longer values
its music programs. Fortino took over the band program 11 years
ago. He says that a shrinking pool of new students prompted him to
take a job at Los Gatos High School, pa
rt of a district that overwhelmingly passed a bond measure
recently to fund programs like art, music, and small class
sizes.
Longtime Gilroy High School band leader Joey Fortino is leaving the school – a development that raises lots of questions. The reason, he says, is that the Gilroy Unified School District no longer values its music programs. Fortino took over the band program 11 years ago. He says that a shrinking pool of new students prompted him to take a job at Los Gatos High School, part of a district that overwhelmingly passed a bond measure recently to fund programs like art, music, and small class sizes.
He points to the reduction of music programs in elementary and middle school – thanks in large part to the mandatory second period of math in GUSD middle schools – as a big reason why he’s feeling that music is not valued. That’s why, he says, that he recruited only 16 freshmen to join the GHS band, down from an average of 30 in years past.
“Extrapolate that over four years … and I have a very large job security problem,” Fortino told reporter Sara Suddes.
In its attempts to boost test scores and close the achievement gap, GUSD administrators have made some difficult choices. Those include requiring two math periods for all middle school students and requiring any students who participate in music programs to come to practice before school and to have proficient scores on standardized math tests.
We can argue whether or not these are wise decisions – and many dispute the wisdom, including Trustee Denise Apuzzo, who notes that “Band, choir and fine arts are academic subjects. Some people in the district are losing perspective of that.” – but one thing that’s not debatable is this result: GUSD students are losing opportunities to study the arts.
Fortino’s departure is just one example of the opportunity cost we’re paying for the methods the district has chosen to try to achieve laudable goals. His departure should prompt us to carefully consider this question: What other costs will our students pay in the future?
