SEATTLE — Students and parent advocates for Washington Middle School are mobilizing to save their award-winning legacy music program.
Numerous music students like 12-year-old Jo Chick are preparing speeches for this week's school board meeting.
“I just want them to know that this music program changed my whole life,” says Chick.
The pre-teen drummer says the mental health benefits alone are worth fighting for. Their best friend Owen Heffter says, “It’s not just losing the music program, it’s losing the legacy that the central district has with music.”
Seattle public schools are facing a $131 million dollar budget shortfall and Washington Middle School is proposing to cut their music programs in half — consolidating choir, band and orchestra under one teaching position and eliminating their jazz instruction.
Washington Middle School is one of the most diverse middle schools in the city and is located along Jackson Street where the annual Jackson Street Jazz Walk celebrates the deep legacy of the music in the community.
Maria Monroe DeVita is a parent advocate who says her student is just one of many who can’t imagine what their future will look like without the jazz band they’re so passionate about.
DeVita is a professor at the University of Washington Psychiatry Department and felt compelled to help advocate for the students before it’s too late.
“Many families actually choose to attend Washington Middle School because of the legacy music programs and we are fighting for a creative solution like pooling middle school resources rather than just cutting what has become vital to so many students,” DeVita said.
Sharon Khosla is a Central District community organizer who has had a student graduate from the music program at Washington Middle School and has a fifth grader who is very excited to join it next year.
“My daughter is going to speak tonight and her feeling is that kids are told to go to school to learn and explore their passions and find what they love, 'So why would they take that away from us?'”
Khosla also said the extensive efforts to make the music program more accessible are also at risk of being washed away.
“There are murals all over the Central District and you can see people with instruments walking," Khosla said. "Jazz is everywhere in this community and this music program needs to be protected.”
Students and parents will speak at the school board meeting and present a student-led petition that’s been signed by hundreds of kids. The students are also planning a walk-out protest after spring break.
The Washington Middle School Husky Jazz Band is the primary feeder program for nearby Garfield High School. Garfield has won every major competition on the west coast and is a regular participant in the Essentially Ellington National Jazz Band competition in New York. The Washington Middle School Jazz Band won the Bellevue Jazz Festival last year and finished top three in last month's festival.