BATTLE GROUND, Wash. – Programs like choir, Spanish, and keyboarding are on the chopping block in the Battle Ground School District.
Middle schools that offer the programs this year will not offer them next year, according to the district. The move has left many parents and students upset, especially when it comes to the choir program at Chief Umtuch Middle School.
"I can't really name anyone who isn't upset about this,” explained eighth-grader Chloe Stewart, who is currently in the school's choir.
Stewart said choir is about more than just singing for her. It is the place where she feels heard and understood. Choir is a time out of her day to forget about the stresses of other classes and really connect with people just like her.
Now, students at the middle school will have to wait until high school to take choir.
"It's sad to think about people not being able to have that same experience with choir and have that safe place that I did,” Stewart said.
Stewart is not the only one upset by the cuts. Stephanie Staley, whose daughter is also in choir at the school, worries what impact cutting the program will have on future students.
"Choir helps those students, who may feel isolated or marginalized. And to not have that for our middle schools is really a detriment, not just to their own development, but to their mental health,” Staley explained.
For Staley’s daughter, choir has helped her gain more self-confidence and better public speaking skills.
"It's really been a self-esteem booster,” Staley said. “It's also really helped her find her group, her tribe of people.”
Staley started an online petition to save the choir program. As of Thursday night, more than 1,300 people had signed it.
The Battle Ground School District released a statement saying:
"Our school board voted to equalize teacher collaboration district-wide. The middle school program, which necessitated the district paying for extra elective teachers for middle school core teachers to teach one less period, was evaluated and determined to be discontinued. The district's new collaboration program will provide collaboration time to teachers at all grade levels: primary, middle and high school. All middle schools in the district will continue to offer Band, Art, PE and STEM or technology courses as standard electives. Some schools had to drop some of the extra electives such as Spanish, keyboarding and at Chief Middle school, choir. Chief was the only middle school that offered choir."
A group of students and parents now plan to bring up the issue at a school board meeting on May 14 to see if anything can be done to keep choir at the middle school.