Band Fee Implemented

For the first time, parents of band stu­dents at Freeman-Centennial School will have to pay a fee for their children to par­ticipate. The new $250-a-year fee affects more than 200 students, or close to half the school.

Starting in September, parents will be asked to come up with $125 for each half of the school year. The fee will be capped at $500 per family, and parents who can’t afford the fee can ask the superintendent to pay less or even nothing. The School Committee voted 4-0 this past Wednesday night to implement the new band fee. The new band fee is expected to bring in about $50,000 in additional revenue for the school district, which school of­ficials

say they need. The band program costs about $69,000 a year, school offi­cials say. State law forbids public school districts to charge students for portions of the school’s mandated curriculum and for school activities that take place during the school day. But band isn’t re­quired by the state, and band practice typically occurs between 8 and 8:45 a.m., just before the school day begins. So just as high schools can charge a fee for students to play on a sports team, an elementary school can charge students to participate in band.

At Freeman-Centennial School, students typically practice in large groups two mornings a week and in smaller groups another two mornings a week. School Committee member Thomas Doyle said considering the value of the service, the new band fee is modest. “Part of the consideration that went into this was essentially a comparison of all the various services and all of the amount of time. It’s not quite one-on-one, but it’s nearly one-on-one, almost a private teaching situation with these students that are taking part of that. When you compare that amount of time that is spent with these students versus what they would be paying for this if they were just doing it solely on their own outside the school en­vironment, quite frankly it’s a pretty good deal,” Doyle said. “And that’s one of the considerations for that.” Doyle acknowledged that in a tough economy some parents might have trouble coming up with the money.

“Obviously we recognize 250 dollars is 250 dollars. It’s a dif­ficult environment, obviously, economically for everyone. But there is some consideration that there is an expense associated with that with the schools, so that’s the reason that fee is under consideration,” Doyle said before the School Committee voted.

Freeman-Centennial has a beginner band and an advanced band, led by instructional music teacher John Fouracre. Perfor­mances by each draw rave reviews. “Anyone that hasn’t seen the Norfolk band in their glory should go in in the morning and just watch or go to one of the performances. They’re beyond outstanding,” Superintendent Don LeClerc said. School Committee chairman Shawn Dooley acknowledged that band’s success, but he also noted the significant time the school commits to band students, which he suggested is well worth a fee that works out to $25 per month. “So that was one of our thought processes. On average we’re talking 16 lessons per month, some of them in a larger group some of them in a smaller group, for the rate of $25. And granted, band is more important, this isn’t pure music lessons. This is part of the culture of the school and the curriculum. But from a bang for your buck, and from the standpoint that it is a voluntary thing and not and not all parents and all students are taking advantage of it, it seems like a good place to create a fee.” Dooley said.

While Dooley said he opposes fees, he said it’s a question of raising enough money to pay for the programs the elementary schools offer.

“Unfortunately, we have to worry about the revenue, to gener­ate the revenue to partially cover the teacher’s salary. More than anything else, $50,000 doesn’t even cover the teacher’s salary. So the rest of the town is still contributing above and beyond for that,” Dooley said. As for why $25 per month seemed like the right figure, Dooley said: “And we didn’t want to make that number too high, either, from the standpoint of it is such a great program, and the parents have to rent instruments, or buy instruments, or lease-to-own in­struments.” School Committee member Linda Andrews noted that band practices take place outside the context of the normal school schedule. “It’s also something that’s offered before school starts, so it’s outside the school day. Which normally in other districts that would be a stipended position, or it would be a contracted-ser­vices position, it wouldn’t be part of a teacher salary. So we’re actually doing people a real service, in my eyes, because we’re giving them the option to take lessons through our district at an extremely reasonable cost,” Andrews said. School Committee member Ross Gilleland joined the others in voting for the new band fee. The fifth member of the School Committee, John Olivieri, did not attend the meeting.