For years, an elementary school on the North End of St. Paul has been a music magnet, drawing students who could draw on a “universal language” in orchestra, band, and choir to build connections and boost learning.
Those music classes became a point of pride for many of the immigrant families who make up more than half the school’s population, including a large Karen community.
But the end of federal COVID funding left St. Paul Public Schools with hard choices this year. The district cut more than 200 teaching positions. At St. Paul Music Academy, that will mean fewer staff to teach the music classes that have made the school a draw to families.
It wasn’t the only St. Paul school to lose music teachers. The district cut about 60 elementary specialists — teachers who provide lessons during the day in classes like music, art, dance, or physical education — to close a shortfall of $107 million.
Erica Wacker, the district’s communications director, said that many of the elementary specialist positions were created with federal COVID relief funding. By providing additional specialists during the pandemic, classroom teachers had additional time for professional development for math and literacy, Wacker explained. Next year, schools will resume a specialist schedule “more similar to what they had pre-pandemic.”
But cuts to elementary music programs, some of which predated the pandemic, caused some of the biggest pushback from parents and staff.
“Music has been our universal language at the school,” said Hannah Riederer, a special education teacher at St. Paul Music Academy whose daughter attended the school. “This really gave access to something that’s considered elite in a lot of communities. It really took the stand that music is for everybody.”
Pandemic money runs out
Next year, St. Paul Music Academy will employ 1.5 music teachers, down from 2.5 last year and 3.5 in the program’s heyday.
And it’s not the only school facing steep music cuts: at Capitol Hill Magnet School, the orchestra, previously open to all third- through eighth-grade students, will now be open only to advanced middle-schoolers. Parents and teachers worry that these cuts could leave music out of reach to families who can’t afford private lessons.
School administrators assured the community that music would “still thrive” at St. Paul Music Academy. Next year, the school will “do more with less,” Assistant Superintendent Kirk Morris told Sahan Journal.
But parents and teachers questioned whether the school would lose its music focus.
“You can only get squeezed so much before you lose something essential, and I think they’re already losing the essentials,” said Saadia Haque, a St. Paul Music Academy parent.
Leah VanDassor, president of the St. Paul teachers union, said that the district had avoided layoffs of tenured teachers and had been transparent that some of the specialist positions only had funding for three years. Still, she said, the district should have made a plan to permanently fund the positions. She also expressed concern that music cuts at St. Paul Music Academy could drive families to leave the district. “If I went there to get music, and there’s hardly any music offerings anymore, I may choose to go somewhere else,” she said.
St. Paul Music Academy formed in 2010 when Franklin Magnet Elementary School, which had been home to a music magnet program since 1964, closed and merged with North End Elementary. Today, in addition to its music programs, the school is home to a language academy for newcomers to the country. A majority of students are Asian, many are refugees, and one-third speak Karen at home — the highest percentage of any K-12 school in the district.
“What made it so special was the pride that the students took in how they learned their instrument and how they felt about playing,” said Susie Leek, a St. Paul Music Academy band and orchestra teacher who retired in June. “It helped them academically. It helped them with their self-confidence.”
Nini Mihu, a 17-year-old Washington Technology Magnet High School student, said that learning the violin at St. Paul Music Academy encouraged her to keep trying when she hit roadblocks in other challenging subjects, like science.
“If I can improve on the violin, then I can also improve academically,” she said.
Her parents felt proud to see her playing the violin, because they were not able to learn instruments when they were younger, she said. But she worried the budget cuts would take those opportunities away.
“I feel like it’s unfair to the students who want to pursue music in the future,” she said.
Administration responds
Bee Lee, the school’s principal, stressed in a May letter to parents that band and orchestra would continue.
“We are committed to integrating music into the school day as a united and collaborative staff,” he wrote. “We will remain a music-focused school where students and staff can share their love for music.” At the time the letter was sent, the school planned to cut its music staff down to one full-time teacher; since then, Lee added back a half-time music teacher.
Lee was not available for an interview. Morris, the assistant superintendent who supervises St. Paul Music Academy, said that Lee planned to “be creative to make sure the program continues to be strong.”
The school faced a number of challenges in balancing the budget, Morris said, including districtwide cuts to certain student support positions and declining projected enrollment at St. Paul Music Academy. The school anticipates 420 students next year, a decline of about 30% from the 2019-2020 school year. In addition to the music focus, Lee wanted to support the classroom teachers’ “literacy momentum.” And since a longtime band and orchestra teacher planned to retire, cutting that position was “clean,” Morris said.
“When you have a retirement, that makes it an easy cut when you’re doing a complicated budget that has lots of reductions,” he said.
Morris said that although music is an important focus for the school, not all students attend for the music programs. He praised Lee for bringing back a half-time music teaching position, and said that Lee plans to develop community partnerships to provide more music opportunities, though those partnerships are still in process and not finalized.
“I think Principal Lee has a great mindset about making sure literacy continues and also music continues at St. Paul Music Academy,” Morris said. “I’m optimistic about the future of SPMA, and the focus on all students and their needs, and keeping the music program alive.”
But teachers say it’s not clear what the music program will look like next year, or whether students will get the level of music instruction families hoped for when they chose the school.
Leek, the band and orchestra teacher who retired in June, said that replacing her job with a part-time position would be challenging. About 75% of the school’s third- through fifth-grade students enrolled in her band and orchestra electives last year.
“It’s extraordinarily popular,” she said. “I think the program will be compromised.”
Ripple effects
Brothers Maser and Sawserpho Hoe, 14 and 13, attended St. Paul Music Academy, where they learned to play trumpet, violin, drums, and piano. Their mother grew up playing piano and other instruments as a teenager in Thailand, and she wanted her children to grow up with music too. The brothers enjoy playing music with friends and family, including with an orchestra at their church. They worried about what cuts at St. Paul Music Academy could mean for future students.
“I think that could really impact the community because you’re removing a lot of opportunities, a lot of options for children,” Maser said.
Sawserpho, who now attends Capitol Hill, said the music cuts would affect his current school as well. He predicted larger orchestra class sizes after the staffing cuts, and worried that having more students could affect the pace of everyone’s learning.
“It’s probably going to be hard because if they don’t know how to play the instrument, then we’re probably going to end up playing the same piece for like, half the school year,” he said.
Riederer’s family, too, is weathering the cuts at both St. Paul Music Academy and Capitol Hill. In fall 2019, Riederer’s daughter started kindergarten at St. Paul Music Academy. At that time, all kindergarten students received violin instruction, along with a tiny violin to practice.
“When the schools shut down, the thing she missed the most about school was playing violin,” Riederer said.
When schools resumed in-person instruction, violin lessons for young children did not resume; they were too challenging with COVID restrictions, Riederer said. Her daughter now attends Capitol Hill, and will start fourth grade in the fall. But because Capitol Hill will no longer offer orchestra to elementary students, and Riederer cannot afford private instruction, her daughter will not be able to continue her violin lessons.
“I feel like this is the end of the road for her, musically,” Riederer said.
For Maser, losing these opportunities means losing something essential about school.
“You express yourself through music,” he said. “School should be a place where you express yourself.”
