Lake Elsinore teacher, students hope to save the music

About 360 middle school students a year sit anxiously with headphones on, their fingers on the piano’s keyboard, learning to read and play music, 54 minutes a day, 12 weeks out of the school year.

Music technology teacher John Lewis said his class may be cut after this school year. He has taught the class at Terra Cotta Middle School in Lake Elsinore for 11 years. (Photo by Maggie Avants)

The students are in John Lewis’s music technology class at Terra Cotta Middle School in the Lake Elsinore Unified School District. The class is one of four exploratory classes offered at the visual and performing arts magnet school; students rotate between the exploratory classes, 12 weeks at a time. But Lewis said according to a reduction list published by the district, the class may not exist next year.

“Most of these kids have never had any music,” he said. “By the time they leave, they can play something recognizable.”

Each class period students begin with finger calisthenics, then review songs they have been practicing, and end the class by working on new material.

“By having them review, they develop fluency and speed,” Lewis said.

He said out of three class periods he polled, one student has taken formal music lessons.

Sixth-graders Kristine Gopez and Lizet Larios are partners in Lewis’s class, and share a keyboard. Lewis said by using headphones students can only hear what their partner is playing. The quiet classroom contrasted with the typical noise of a middle school campus.

“I don’t really want this class to go because I want more people to get experience in music,” Kristine said.

Kristine and Lizet said they prefer the music class over drama – another exploratory class they took this year.

“[In drama] we did plays and we didn’t really learn anything. But here we learn music and how to play songs,” Lizet said.

Students learn how to read and play music in John Lewis's music technology class at Terra Cotta Middle School in Lake Elsinore. (Photo by Maggie Avants)

Lewis said there is a direct correlation between music and academics.

“At one time, this school was designated as one of two Distinguished School of the Arts schools in the state,” he said. “When I first came to this school, there were more than 10 electives offered.”

Art and computer technology are also offered as exploratory classes at the middle school. Lewis said he has been teaching the class for 11 years now, and won’t know until August whether he will return to teach the class.

“My class was the only elective of all the middle schools in the district on the list,” Lewis said.

He said he is not really sure why.

The principal of Terra Cotta Middle School declined to comment about the class and possible cuts.

Lewis began a campaign, asking students and their parents to send e-mails to school board members and administrators, in hopes of saving the class.

Rhonda Lucas is one such parent who sent an e-mail.

“I am showing my support in keeping Mr. Lewis’s piano class … Since being in that class my daughter has learned to play the piano,” Lucas wrote in a Feb. 25 e-mail to administrators.

The e-mail continued: “She will come home and play songs on our piano so well that I thought you could only learn that through private piano lessons …We could not believe what we were hearing. Her fingers are in the right positions on the keys, and she can play complete songs. Please do not cut this remarkable class. Let us know what we can do to keep this class going.”

Lucas said she did not get a response from anyone at the school district.

Lake Elsinore Unified School spokesman Jose Carvajal commented about the emails and said the district’s intention is not to target music or any other type of fine arts in the district, but to balance its budget.

Like many school districts across California, the district is facing a $19.9 million budget deficit in 2010-2011. Cost-saving measures in the district include the closing of Butterfield Elementary at the end of this school year, and the conversion of two of its schools to K-8’s. The district’s management is taking a 10 percent pay cut along with nine furlough days, and is in negotiations with its classified staff union to accept an 8 percent pay cut.

Preliminary layoff notices went out to 195 teachers, but the district remains at impasse with its teachers union. A public mediator is scheduled to step in between the two parties.

Lewis, 58, is a member of the Lake Elsinore Teachers Association and said that when layoff notices recently went out, he did not get one. He said he can only assume that because of his tenure with the district and his credentials, he would be assigned to another position at the middle school or somewhere else in the district.

“It’s not about the job, because I’ll still have a job. It’s about what kids learn in this class,” he said. “I have had the good fortune to teach music since the 70s, but now there are more English language development and intervention classes; the focus seems to be shifting toward test scores.”

Maggie Avants is the education editor for SWRNN. Reach her at maggie.avants@swrnn.com. Follow SWRNNedu on Twitter!

Tags: Butterfield Elementary, California budget deficit, Distinguished School of the Arts schools, John Lewis, Kristine Gopez, Lake Elsinore, Lake Elsinore Teachers Association, lake elsinore unified school district, Lake Elsinore Unified School spokesman Jose Carvajal, Lizet Larios, Maggie Avants, Rhonda Lucas, school cuts, SWRNN, Terra Cotta Middle School

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 8:01 pm and is filed under Education, Local News, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.