Hi all,
First of all, thank you. Whether you were a speaker at, showed up to, or supported others' attendance at the board meeting last night- even if you weren't involved at all- thank you. All of you are the reason that, after last night, we continue to have ways to fight for solutions. And, a warm welcome to the members of the Highland Park choir community who have joined us yesterday and today- thank you for your support.
Note: as the Board meeting was uploaded to both Vimeo and YouTube, when referencing a specific moment in the meeting, I will attach links at the appropriate timecodes to both. In case these links break, and don't take you to the correct time, the time for each platform is listed to the right of its name within each reference.
For those that did not get the chance to hear, I encourage everyone to listen to public comment (starts at Vimeo 46:45, YouTube 53:14; note that the timer takes up most of the screen on both recordings). Our "main" speakers are speakers #1-10, however, thanks to your support, we were able to secure many additional speakers on the day of the meeting. You'll hear on the recording that, last night, in addition to some members of the HPHS choral program, a number of members of the DHS choir community showed up, filling the Board room to full capacity with many watching right outside via the livestream. During this tense public comment session, students and parents alike stood up, delivering their eloquent words directly to the people denying them the right to sing.
Despite our valiant attempts to resist the changes proposed by the Board, including a Board member fighting for us until the very end (Vimeo 1:40:39, YouTube 1:47:09), last night, members of the choral community watched in heartbreak; Bel Canto, a class students loved so much, was merged with Chorale to create a "stacked class"- in other words, as of last night, Bel Canto students will be a part of the Chorale class for the upcoming school year. Not only that, but as was approved by the Board last night, Ms. Balmer will be guaranteed at least 1.0 FTE at HPHS, and Ms. Barnhill will be guaranteed at least 0.6 FTE at DHS.
To employ an old adage, last night, although we may have lost the battle, your support will enable us to win the war. Thanks to assistance from members of the community, my colleagues and I have been able to secure several meetings with choral representatives, District personnel, experts in the Illinois "educational endorsement" systems, and more. Through these meetings, we have both found and begun work on a solution to "unlock" 0.4 FTE for Ms. Balmer at DHS. However, by no means is our job done- we must continue to hold District personnel accountable until this solution is put into place and Ms. Balmer is rightfully transferred back to DHS with 1.0 FTE. Once I know more, I'll continue to communicate how we can help to make that happen.
Thanks to your help, so much is in the works right now. I'm excited to share more as I receive permission to do so; until then, please continue to direct people to sign up for emails at https://balmer.mikeylab.com for the most up-to-date information.
Thanks again, and stay tuned- there will be more information to come.
Be well,
Mikey