Many people in the crowd are expected to play their musical instruments.
Planned speakers at the district offices include Indigenous music teacher Alana Johnson; Cindy Romphf, president of the Greater Victoria Music Educators’ Association; Jane Massey of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 947; and Winona Waldron, president of the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association.
The school district budget is set for approval on Monday.
District secretary-treasurer Kim Morris said the district has tried to be responsive to some of the feedback it has been getting throughout the budgeting process.
The plan is to start the next budget process earlier so there is more time for input, said Morris, noting tough decisions had to be made to deal with a $7-million deficit in a $253-million budget.
Several demonstrations featuring student performers have been held in recent weeks because of proposed cuts to music programs in the district. Saturday’s gathering, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., comes two days before the school board passes its 2021-22 budget, with music and a number of other items facing cuts. The board is trying to balance the budget despite a $7-million deficit. So far, cuts have included time dedicated to vice-principal duties. More than $1 million in music programs including Grade 6, 7 and 8 band, Grade 5 strings, middle-school strings and choirs, and a district ukulele program have faced the axe. Also under threat are educational assistants, a primary-grades reading program for students who need extra help, youth and family counsellors, programs for gifted students and the hiring of clerical staff, including library clerks.
Strings and choir, both incredibly popular programs among students, remain in danger of being completely eliminated. Roughly 70 per cent of Grade 5 students participate in strings when offered. Choir is easily the most inclusive and cost-effective way to enrich students’ lives through music. Cutting such a program that boosts student mental health, especially now, is very misguided. Teachers have even been told that they are not allowed to run strings or choir programs with the provided band funding, even if there are interested kids. It is arbitrarily cruel to students with these passions. The school district has suggested that teachers volunteer their time to teach strings and choir. To ask them to run these complex and challenging programs in their free time, while in their new roles as general classroom teachers, is misguided at best, insulting at worst.
Elementary strings and a ukulele program were also on the chopping block, for a total cut of more than $1 million to music programs. Other areas earmarked for reductions included services for gifted students and meal programs, but it’s the proposed cuts to music that have generated the most controversy, including multiple protests by parents and students. The board vote came after various district departments found savings of $1.1 million. Along with the extra money for music, another $400,000 is earmarked for additional educational assistants. “We went back to all the departments and asked everybody to look really closely,” said board chair Jordan Watters, adding the additional money is good news, “but it doesn’t close the gap.”
The B.C. Coroners Service says it is investigating the death to determine what happened, including cause of death. Mother Adriana Londono said on the day she died, Allayah and her 15-year-old friend went to downtown Victoria “to buy downs, heroin, which is fentanyl these days, and then did it and went home.” They returned to the friend’s home in Langford, where the friend’s father thought Allayah seemed groggy. Allayah said she had consumed alcohol, was tired and went to bed. “She did not wake up.” Had she told him they had consumed drugs, he likely could have saved her, said Londono. “But kids are scared to tell their parents they’ve done drugs.”