If children can’t read, then the focus must be on literacy, even if that means sacrificing some music electives, the Montgomery County Public Schools superintendent said Tuesday.
Defending a recent decision for 10 middle schools in the county to lose music teachers — and in a few cases, chorus classes — Jerry Weast said it was a necessary evil in order to refocus on essential basic skills like reading and math.
More than 30 percent of middle schools in Montgomery County are not reading at grade level, meaning too many students are getting diplomas without the proper literary skills, Weast noted.
“I’m the same person who talked about opera in the elementary schools. It isn’t like we’re against the music or the arts,” Weast told parents and board members. “It’s how you can integrate it and uplift the literacy issue.”
The topic of cuts to the arts surfaced at Tuesday’s School Board meeting when Janis Sartucci, mother of a rising 11th-grader and sixth-grader in the county, voiced concerns about the reductions in music offerings.
Not only will middle schoolers miss out on some music offerings, she said, they also could be ineligible for some statewide choral groups if they’re not enrolled in school choral classes.
During her testimony, Sartucci also read a statement from a high school student about the value of music education in allowing for personal expression in order to make her point.
The issue, though, is less about the need for arts classes and more about the need for added literacy efforts, Weast said.
“You only have a certain amount of time, and some of these kids, well, they don’t know how to read, they don’t know how to do math,” he said.
