<p>Susan--You and your daughter are special individuals who share their gifts with the world.</p>
<p>Fosselover, you are very kind, thank you. </p>
<p>Perhaps we shall meet up at college auditions though I am losing track as to where each of our kids are applying this year. </p>
<p>If my D does not do this musical, unfortunately it means not doing choreography which she loves, though likely will choregraph tap dances again at our studio. If she does The Last Five Years somehow, she will love that, but that is not a project that involves choreography. That is just one aspect of course, but one she does enjoy and has a knack for, like I believe your D does. One nice thing about her student run show last year is that it involve musical numbers with dance and we do have a few kids with a dance background, but the school musical of Wizard of Oz, coupled with the year before being Into The Woods (which she did love), did not involve any dance. So, this was an outlet for the couple girls skilled at dance to do some dance in a school thing, as otherwise, they only dance outside of school at dance studios.</p>
<p>Hi Susan,</p>
<p>I have been following this thread as, I really have nothing to offer as far as a resolution to the situation, I am really sorry that your daughter in what should be her best year in high school is becoming the worse. What saddens me most is that there are adults who can't seem to put their egos in check or are not walking their talk in respect to valuing the creative input of others. I hope that your daughter does not let this experience detract her from doing wonderful things that she is meant to do.</p>
<p>all the best</p>
<p>Susan,
I've been following your thread and was wondering if your daughter ever went back to
talk to the music teacher after the initial meeting.</p>
<p>BTW, how was the parents weekend? I had never heard of that before and my D's
school doesn't have that.</p>
<p>Hi, Susan. Please meet with your respective teachers and get back to us. I think yur D needs to have this situation resolved soon so as not to tarnish her Senior year!!! There may be some very valid reason for their concerns.....also, where is the principal in all of this?? Just curious.</p>
<p>Hey Mauretania...long time no see. </p>
<p>yes, she went back yesterday with another senior who is a key cast member and asked if the students could meet with him to discuss whatever concerns he had and to work this out. He said he had no interest in meeting with the students but it was simply between her and her parents. She said it was a collaborative project that the kids felt they could discuss, though her parents were willing to come in. He then said, "did I ever approve this project?" meaning why would the kids meet with me...but she said she meant they wanted to meet to see what could be done or worked out so that they might do it. That is how far she was able to get and then called me to ask me to set up a meeting even though she had hoped as teens they could responsibly discuss this as it is a student run endeavor, nor is it about our family per se even though she is the creator of the production. So, she tried! She was relunctant to have us go in but we need to because he asked us to. He spoke in a negative tone (that she felt offended by) that came across as this was not going to fly but she still did not get a handle on where it stood...like if there were just things to work out or it was a no go. With me today on the phone, he made it as if there are things to work out cause he is not happy with it. That is fine (well I really don't know what these things are and only know the ones he mentioned to my D when she pressed for specifics) in that I think if the approach was, "this was a great first year and I would like to see it happen again but there are some things we would have to agree to first in order for it to happen" but that was not how they approached her. </p>
<p>On the other topic...parent weekend is something many colleges have in the fall...a chance for parents to come to campus, and many events are planned. We had not seen our daughter since dropping her off on Sept. 1. You can do as much or as little of the planned events. In our case, my younger D got to spend three nights in the dorm and so late at night, she and her sister did stuff on campus that college kids do. We ate out meals on nearby Thayer Street. We attended a very good play called Anna in the Tropics which was on Broadway recently. This was a theater dept. production and was quite well done. The writer of the play is an alum. Both my kids love theater. We attended numerous a capella group performances and my girls LOVE these. Many were very good. One group had a junior boy in it that my younger D has done many shows with in summers in another state. We saw a student improv troupe too. We had tix to a dance show with student choreographers. We thought that was going to be student dance groups some of which I had seen back in April and since both my girls have danced their whole lives, I thought the younger one would enjoy this but it was not what we thought it was going to be. It was dance students from classes, not a dance troupe/club. The first dance was so, well, um, should I say avant-garde? well, let's just say that it barely seemed like DANCE....it was very unusual....it involved blenders....well, I won't say more but my younger D wanted to go after the first dance as there was an acapella group they really wanted to see at the same time but I had already gotten advance tix to the dance show. So, we left. We also went to about a quarter of the homecoming football game against Cornell, particularly to see half time show with the unusual Brown Band that our D said was fun to see at least once, plus neither of my kids had ever seen a football game prior to this....so we did that for a little bit. We also got to hear Dustin Hoffman speak (is parent of a Brown student), as well as the intro. by Michael Orvitz (another Brown parent, former CEO of Disney and agent to those in the biz)...which was fantastic....very long, very open on Dustin's part...interesting, including Q's from audience, film clips from his career, really good. My younger D is an actress so it also was fascinating the up close and personal stories this famous actor told. We also got to do a little shopping for our D while there. It was a full weekend, that was the second part of a trip as I had done two college visits in Boston enroute to Providence with younger D. </p>
<p>Sybbie, thanks for your thoughtfulness.
Susan</p>
<p>Susan, I'm so glad to hear that the tone of the dialog seems so much more positive and constructive. </p>
<p>I really do think it entirely possible that the teacher might have been having a "bad hair day," when he originally spoke to your daughter. </p>
<p>I can certainly imagine why.</p>
<p>The demands placed on teachers by society are huge, even in a small school like your daughter's, serving less than a thousand students. It is so hard to respond to everyone's individual needs including students with disabilities and special challenges, students with troubled home lives or students with drug and alcohol problems or students with mental illnesses. On top of this teachers must deal with an infinite amount of paperwork and regulatory stuff, deal with temperamental equipment, and deal with demanding and stressed-out administrators--and we need to keep in mind that the teachers at Susan's daughter's school are having to adjust to the expectations of a new principal.</p>
<p>In particular, I think music and performing arts teachers are often some of the greatest treasures in a school system--often incredibly dedicated to inspring and challenging students, often putting in many unpaid and unappreciated hours after school. In this day and age of emphasis on high-stakes testing ("No Child Left Behind," etc.), they are very much an endangered species in many places, because their work doesn't appear to have an "immediate bottom-line impact" on test scores.</p>
<p>In a day and age when school budgets are coming under increasing strain, because of high and risiing health insurance costs and fuel prices, the arts teachers often seem to be the most tempting target for the budgetary axe.</p>
<p>Unlike a previous poster, I don't think of teachers or school administrators as "pencil pushing weenies."</p>
<p>I do think they are human--humans who struggle hard to do a good job under often trying and difficult circumstances, humans who sometimes feel overwhelmed by the many conflicting demands placed upon them, humans who are often unappreciated and taken for granted, humans who sometimes have bad-hair days and don't realize the effect their word and tone may have on a student.</p>
<p>As a homeschooling family, we have volunteered in the public schools in our own and neighboring districts. My children and I have had the good fortune to work collaboratively with many wonderful and dedicated teachers and school administrators. </p>
<p>The ones we've had the pleasure of getting to know are personal heroes, but they are still human beings. They are not perfect. They make mistakes. They don't always say exactly the right thing at the right time in the right tone of voice when they have a million different competing problems on their mind. They are sometimes brusque and abrupt, for reasons that may have nothing to do with the particular student they are talking to at any given time. </p>
<p>They have a lot of responsibility, a lot on their minds. The community has committed very valuable and precious resources to the collective stewardship of the teachers and school administrators: not just the expensive buildings and equipment paid for by taxpayers, but also the far more precious and irreplaceable time and energies of all the children who attend.</p>
<p>To Roger: I really think the headline should be changed again. All along, Susan had been expressing uncertainty as to whether the teacher was really saying "no" to the production. Although the initial conversation with Susan's daughter was certainly very discouraging to her, Susan never seemed sure that it was a no-go situation. At this point, given the most recent phone conversation, I would say things are really looking up and "squelch" is entirely the wrong verb to describe what is going on here.</p>
<p>sgio, I don't know where the principal is on it. He is brand new and my feeling is he doesn't know anything about this. Last year ,when my daughter launched this endeavor, she went to the music teachers who said, ask the principal, who told her, "great, whatever you want, it's yours" and then the student run production occurred with tons of positive feedback on all fronts that we knew of and now when she went to confirm the date for this year, this news happened. Apparently the music staff is unhappy about it but never said that last year at all. I have not gotten the principal involved but could but let me see what happens Monday. At this point, my D is starting to get gung ho about her second musical project idea even though she has put so much into creating the student run cabaret revue she had been planning the past two months already. </p>
<p>I would not say her year is tarnished but this is one of many roadblocks that have ensued for her at this school, most of which are hard to fathom, particularly this one. This is WHAT she does. It would be like telling the football team you guys can't have that activity this year, despite winning the championship last year. Well, it is not quite like that but you get my drift. In this case, it was all her creation and initiative, but is also letting an entire cast of kids down (as well as their parents, I presume). I have only told one parent and that was this morning and she is not happy about it and cannot understand the problem as everyone spoke of how great what these kids did last year. She can't imagine what their issues are, or only that they should just be things that they want to work out the kinks with the kids over but she senses something else must be going on but we only have the few things he told my D in her initial "meeting" but it was not a "working" meeting but he only wanted to tell her that they were not encouraging them to do it again but she pressed him for specifics as he was very vague. I am sure he realizes that parents are not just gonna say, ok, well forget it. He has to know it would not be a popular decision, I would think. I don't know why they would disenfranchise their leaders and most talented vocal and theater students (that's who is involved in this). </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>I understand your thoughts on this matter...by "tarnish" I mean truly enjoying her senior year...without unnecessary headaches..just a time to wind down after all the college acceptance hoopla and enjoy some time off for once....though I realize that some of these student types THRIVE on extracurricular passions! RE: the new principal....that kind of puts a NEW slant on things! I did not truly take that into consideration when I read your many posts. I can see now that perhaps the music teachers concerns may have somethng to do with "expectations" for them in the future! Any time there is a new administrator they need to "FLEX" their muscles and need something of magnificent proportions done by the staff and kids to seal their "tenure." It's the real world behind the scenes so to speak. The teachers may be reacting to an expectation that the administration has set for them...Yes, can very well be done by this Senior team of highly able students, but for the future, what kind of student will I have that will be able to pull this off without my intense help?? We had that in my D's HS. Very small HS....she ran a pie baking sale single-handedly, supervised the picking of apples, baking of pies, sale and distribution of pies, collection of moneys, etc. THe supervising teacher was amazed..he need not lift a finger! Guess what? My D. graduated and he is lamenting...no real student with incredible organization skills to pick up the slack. The result? You can guess. But the one thing he has going for him is that the current principal is an "OLD_TIMER" and has been around for awhile and realizes the diversities of the student classes...the principal will not need to make any "brownie" points with the parents and/or school board as he has been tenured for many years. I suspect that your D is caught in some behind the scene politics of this type. Just my take....working in a school myself!!!!</p>
<p>Homeschoolmom, I agree, I really wish the headline was "a vent" like I intended it to be to discuss an experience we had with other parents. I don't like the current subject heading as it is not entirely true....it feels like they are squelching it but have never said no.....plus it reads as a "headline" that I never intended...could come up on musical theater and college searches on google..and I only meant the "audience" to be my fellow parent forum "pals", though obviously anyone can read it, this will draw others into it that I never really meant to, plus it was a "featured CC thread" last night. I did not even discuss this on the musical theater thread on which I am a regular contributor, for instance. </p>
<p>As far as your post, overall, I agree with everything you said about teachers. Afterall, I am a teacher by profession! I have been a trainer of teachers in fact. Believe me, I know what teachers deal with. I also am aware of who is appreciated and things to do with budgets and the arts. </p>
<p>Let me just say this about our school, however. The ARTS are very very very well supported and one of the strengths of our little rural high school is that our music department is a stand out and we feel VERY lucky that considering both our children happened to love performing arts, that our public school at least is strong in this area. We have been ardent supporters of this department and they know that. My kids have been key participants and achievers both in the school and on the state level connected to their department. Our department won a Grammy Award in fact. In fact, I was the one to inform them on the night of a major school concert to which it was announced to the community. Teachers work very hard. These particular two teachers just teach three periods per day, not as much as the regular subject teachers, nor have homework to grade. This particular student run production did not involve them barely at all. The only involvement that I could tell was if the kids had a question that an adult needed to answer or give permission for, she went to ask these folks during lunch or homeroom time. I frankly see this as part of their job. </p>
<p>As far as a bad hair day, that is entirely possible but since she spoke to him on two different days and felt a negative disrespectful talking down tone both times, plus a refusal to meet with the kids EVER about this, I don't think it was simply one bad hair day. Obviously they are not happy about the student run musical and we had no idea. He told me he was unhappy about it too but was polite with me and I was with him. We get along and these teachers know us well. My D also was offended that HER OWN teacher who is the choral teacher and department head, would not speak to her about it and made her discuss it with the instrumental teacher who is not her teacher though she used to have him in middle school for band and she obviously sees him frequently as she is in the music department (only three staff members) for a couple periods every day in a small school. But the students involved are choral students and in fact, is almost the same exact group that makes up the select choir that the choral teacher (my D's actual teacher) leads. </p>
<p>Anyway, I agree about those points in terms of teachers and schools overall but some of that is not what I am seeing here. Our music staff is very well supported by this community and they mention that at every concert how much they appreciate the great support they have. We also bring in a director for the spring musical who is a professional actor with experience on Broadway. Our music students, even though they come from a small school are key winners on the state level for recognition constantly. My Ds included. She brought attention to our school for several awards on the state level, for her work as a lead in their musicals, and for this student run musical revue she created that was publicized widely and also went out as exemplarary in a state wide newsletter to all arts departments. I believe she and other students have brought the department much acclaim and I believe the faculty has done an excellent job as well. It is a positive relationship with both us, the students, and the community as a whole. </p>
<p>Our school had much upheaval last year unrelated to music or any of this, however. The arts events, or particularly the student run musical, if anything, were the shining moments in an otherwise negative year for our school community. This was one time when folks walked away saying great things.</p>
<p>PERHAPS these music teachers did NOT want this last year. They had told my D last year when she proposed her student run show to ask the principal who gave it HER blessing. The music department head, my D's teacher, was NOT on speaking terms, I believe with the old principal. Allegedly (I say allegedly, but it was in publications), the principal, a woman, was having an "affair" with her middle school principal who she oversees in her job, and he was married to the music department head. The music teacher and middle school principal's long marriage broke up when this happened. That issue, as well as many others, were parts of hearings and such last year, and eventually the principal resigned. That is all I wish to say on that matter but that is some history there. Thus, I am now only GUESSING maybe the music teachers NEVER wanted this show but it was the principal that said yes, and now she is no longer there, the new principal likely has no idea this is even going on right now, and thus they have taken over and don't want it. I have no idea. I am guessing. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>sgi, I did not see your last post before I posted above...but that is an interesting theory....and there must be something here that I just don't know about that is not being verbalized......</p>
<p>Susan
So when are you supposed to be meeting with him? I'm really interested in hearing
what he has to say to you and why he couldn't just tell your daughter and the other
senior student what the hold-up is. </p>
<p>Parents Weekend
I haven't seen my daughter since August, either. She will be coming home at Thanksgiving and my sister-in-law is visiting her next month. They have tickets to
see "Bombay Dreams" which my D is looking forward to since she's never seen a
show on Broadway (only in London). They seem to be very expensive in NY.</p>
<p>Where did you stay in Providence? We stayed at the Marriott (awful beds!) and
the Westin (great). I remember there was a very good seafood restaurant but
I don't remember the name of it (it was on the school side, not across the river).</p>
<p>I just read this whole thread ( I had originally stopped at page 2 - 7 pages already, oh my!). What jumps out at me is that this is a power and control issue on the part of the teacher - for some reason. I really thought sgiovinc1 had some interesting thoughts. There could be some behind the scenes (pardon the pun) stuff going on with a new principal - something the teacher could not (rightfully) address with your daughter. Maybe his disrespectfulness (is that a word??) with your daughter was misdirected anger and he could get away with that because she's not in a position to challenge his authority. Who knows.</p>
<p>He was polite with you, Susan, and I think that's telling. Maybe he doesn't want to anger or alienate you, the parent. Or maybe he's just schmoozing and playing both sides of the fence. You'll have a better feel for that after your Monday meeting. And I am going to be VERY curious to hear how that goes. Because what is very clear as I read all your posts is that there is something else going on that could not be communicated with your daughter but he feels needs to be directly addressed with you on an adult-to-adult basis. </p>
<p>I truly hope there's a peaceful resolution that everyone is happy with. It woud be too sad otherwise. Good luck!</p>
<p>... and the teacher said,</p>
<p>And the teacher said?????</p>
<p>Soozie, so what happened?</p>
<p>New Title is so much better!</p>
<p>You guys have been so supportive and helpful that I came back to this thread because I feel that I OWE you the followup since I last posted. I will explain the "events' since then. </p>
<p>One thing I wrote on one of my last posts where I was made a conjecture that perhaps the music staff did not want this student run musical last year (something never done there before) and only did it cause the principal gave it her blessing was wrong as my D corrected me when I asked her that later that day and told me that last year she went to the music dept. staff first who were positive and just asked her to make sure the principal said ok as well. As I have mentioned, until last week, we or anyone else we know have NEVER heard ONE negative word about last year's endeavor. </p>
<p>So, today was the meeting the music teachers requested between them and my D and I during her lunch period. Let me say that NOTHING new came up in it and in fact, I still have no idea why they needed to meet with me as everything they said could have been discussed with the students directly. It did go positively and my gut feelings from the start (to do with resentments or jealousy or feeling threatened) when hearing of their displeasure were right on , and the upshot is that the show will go on (cutting to the chase if you do not want to read further). But the following posts are what happened today....</p>
<p>The two music staff were the department head who is the Chorus teacher, also heads the select choir, is involved in music direction on the regular school musical (my D is in all those things and has been with this person since 7th grade), as well as what is called her TA (four year homeroom but for her she just got into this homeroom this year as she is now considered senior but was not originally in this homeroom group when not in that class/year). The other teacher is the instrumental teacher, whom my D had only in 7th/8th as she is no longer in concert band but just in jazz band and that is with the third faculty person in this dept., though this guy was on the periphery of the project last year in that it takes place in their department physically. The kids in the musical, however, were all choral kids or students of the first teacher I mentioned. Last week, when my D went to HER teacher, the choral one, she would not discuss it and thus had the instrumental teacher talk to my D. As I mentioned she went in only to confirm the date assuming it was on again this year and the instrumental teacher told her that they were not happy with the show last year and the bad outweighed the good in their eyes and was vague about why though my D had pushed him to clarify some specifics which he mentioned that I posted originally. He never said anything to the affect that he was interested in them doing it again but would have to work out some issues but implied in quite a negative tone that they were not keen on it but he would talk to her parents. When she went back two days later and asked if he would meet with her and some of the cast to discuss whatever his concerns were, he said he had no interest, nor did the choral teacher, in meeting with the students. It was VERY unclear if he had any interest in actually coming up with solutions to any issues or wanted to call the whole thing off or just what. She said he was very down on the whole thing. He came off differently in his phone call with me to line it up giving the impresssion he just wanted to work some things out. </p>
<p>So, today, let me say first off that the tone of what they were saying was a complete turnaround, my D says (and I believe that she did not make this up at all) from the way he approached her about it which was as I described. They did not come across as if the students could not do it again but they just aired two things, one each, and the two things were two things he had already told my D when she tried to ascertain what this was about. </p>
<p>If you recall, my GUT feeling, when this came up, was that they, particularly the choral teacher / dept. head had feelings of resentment or "jealousy" over the success of the project or how much the kids were into it. Indeed, that is what MOST of this is about. The meeting was cordial on all sides and my D was most professional if I say so myself in how she handled it. Unbeknownst to me, when I got there, my D apparently had asked her beloved Guidance counselor to sit in on this meeting as she feels supported when he is there and that there is a third party who is aware of what is going on. He has done this before in such a situation and he observes and does not participate directly. I chose to never contact the principal as I just wanted to see how this went and bring closure to whichever way the ball dropped with this project. Going into the meeting, as of last night, my D was saying that as much as she was dying to do this show she wrote and had put a lot into it already for the past couple of months to get it ready, she was thinking of not doing it again due to all that had happened and was getting SO excited about the alternative plan she had come up with in the past few days to put on an off Broadway two person musical and was already investigating how to get the rights. She had prepared herself to move on. I told her to not mention the two person musical yet in this meeting and let's just hear what they had to say and express our views on whatever those things were and see what was up and then decide what she wanted to do about the original plans and at least bring closure of some sort to that first. She did keep to that. The call is HERS to make but I thought she should see this meeting through before making a decision (if she was even going to get to make one, I was not sure). </p>
<p>So it began with the choral teacher speaking her concern. She first tried to say that it had been a good show (I sure wish they had approached it that way when speaking to her last week) and I could tell she was reaching for words of what to say first that was positive....Then came the buts....she reiterated the point that the other teacher gave last week....that this teacher felt that the cast was "elite" and she did not like the attitude of how this may have affected others and actually more of how it affected her. She talked about how these kids came across as less enthused or positive when they were in select choir (it is almost the exact same group of kids) or in chorus or when the school musical commenced following the cabaret production. She mentioned how she would walk by their cabaret rehearsals and the kids would seem so focused and then when they got to select choir rehearsal (every Thurs. at 5 PM, following the cabaret rehearsal), they weren't as focused. Then she brought up how when they began the spring musical, Wizard of Oz, the kids who had done the cabaret (which again is like the same kids, in this regard all the key parts in the school musical) were not gung ho over the school musical or had an attitude about it near the start of the 2 1/2 month rehearsal period. In other words, they seemed to be very into their own project and came across as less enthused or focused on the school sponsored groups that she led that they were also in. When I asked if we could respond to her concern or should we wait until we heard their list of concerns ( I was imagining a list at this point though it was mostly just two concerns, one from each teacher), the other teacher said, "we don't need a 'rebuttal' " which I thought was a strange thing to say, as if, here is what we want to tell you and we don't want to hear back! I just said politely that we had no rebutall as I did not see this as an argument but we did have some thoughts about the issues that were raised. </p>
<p>I discussed that for one thing, the kids who did the student run cabaret revue were almost the same exact make up of her select choir so one could claim the select choir were an "elite" group as well. Select groups exist in all school endeavors and this was not that different than say that not all kids are on the varsity team and some might feel badly if not part of that grouping. The select choir was really no different in this respect as those kids are also in the regular chorus so whatever "attitudes" they possessed might not be a reflection of being in the cabaret any differently than being in the select choir. I went on to discuss how when kids collaborate on an endeavor where they share a common passion, they usually bond. And in fact, the kids in this cast were NOT all friends outside of this activity. I likened it to my other D's varsity soccer team with whom she is not friends with each teammate ordinarily but they bonded as a group in season and in fact, the coach held weekly potluck suppers with the goal being to bond as a group. This is a fairly common phenomena in such activities. I also mentioned (all of which my D had tried to tell them last week) that half the cast had graduated and so we are not even talking the same exact kids for this year and my D ran down the list of ten kids and truthfully they are NOT all friends normally but all share this interest. When I think about it, a majority represent our TOP academic students as well though I did not get into that, but am sharing that here as they are not trouble makers or the like, but are well respected overall by faculty. These kids may not even come across as the other group did. My D says that the 18 year old boys she had in her cast last year lacked focus (though were talented) and indeed the teacher does have problems at times with them in choir and such. </p>
<p>I discussed that she may want to look at why the kids may have been focused when rehearsing their student run show more than she observed when they got to select choir as these were different types of endeavors. In one, perhaps they felt empowered by creating and running their own thing and many appeared to have such a huge sense of pride over the whole production at the end and that is just a different type of experience than the classical a capella singing group. (I totally did not get into how they don't enjoy that activity as much as it is just less exciting or boring to many of them and does not change much year to year). I kept it to how the kids might naturally feel or act differently about a project of their own than the other sort of activity. For many of the kids, they relished the opportunity to do theater as most only do it at school and not outside of school (not my D's case though) and she provided a second musical experience for them last year. Many were thanking her as it was the best thing they said they had ever done. Many had solos who normally might not have in the school musical and loved that. Many were just so proud of the whole thing they pulled off without help.</p>
<p>Regarding their "attitude" toward the Wizard of Oz, I feel that would have occured regardless of that many of the key players had also done the student musical revue and was unrelated. Many were disappointed with the choice for the school musical, as were several parents for reasons I mentioned before: not being a challenging show given the talent they had that year, having done more challenging musicals in the past and not enough girl parts considering all the leading women they had. I praised how terrific the show was and that my child enjoyed it immensely (which she did playing Dorothy) but that the kids had valid reasons they were not that psyched initially and simply voiced those. One could say that the select choir kids were displeased as these are the same as the student run musical cast kids and I do not see the linkage here. What I see (but did not say) is that the select choir and the school musicals were not seen as challenging or as exciting to the kids as the student run musical and she senses that. She said they chose Wizard to bring in lots of middle schoolers to participate and I did not say anything about that as that is not pertinent here but my honest view is that the middle school has their own musical and in the past, the HS only took one or two middle schoolers who were up to the challenge and put them in the HS production and last year, the large group of 12 year olds in the cast was not as fun for many of the 18 year olds in the cast from their point of view. So, yes, some kids were not as gung ho at the outset of that endeavor but that is not due to the student run musical but more to the situation. </p>
<p>As you can see, this teacher was discontent (and actually she was tearing up) that the kids were so enthused over their student run musical and she saw them less focused on the activities that she ran. And that is where the linkage exists for her. She did not feel good about it, and that was apparent. </p>
<p>The instrumental teacher mentioned a couple more logistical issues that are not insurmountable and are understandable. I don't get why he did not come across and just say he hoped they could pull it off this year but would have to sit down to iron out the problems he saw. One was that he felt the kids did not clean up the space adequately and he would come in the next day and find food wrappers and such. I can understand that being a problem. In my view, you then meet with the cast and iron out expectations and check in periodically if they want to continue on and use the stage and surrounding area. He mentioned how they did not strike the set late the final Saturday night but waited until the next day or day after that and that he did not like that. I have no idea why he did not just tell them that ahead of time but surely those things can be given as expectations. He mentioned how one wireless mic had been broken and that he had to pay to replace it and we both reacted that we wish he had told the cast as they had raised funds that would have covered that and he replied that it was not a big deal as it only cost him $50 to replace (though he bothered to mention it). He said he needed my D to give him a list of who is involved, various rehearsal and production dates, who is taking care of this or that, etc....which is NO problem. All of that is to be expected. </p>
<p>I suggested that these concerns or expectations be told by them to the entire cast (which is along the lines of what I said on the phone that I did not see it as between my D and them as much as between all the kids and them as it is a group collaboration even if she is the leader) and that it would be hard for her to get across the adults' expectations to her peers in the same way as if it came from the adults themselves and so they said they would take my suggestion and address the cast at the outset. </p>
<p>I mentioned that if my D chose to go forward she only wanted to do it if she felt the musical was supported and not going to be a bad feeling as she got the sense that they were not keen on it. They acted as if the thought of them not being keen on it was totally not the case (but that was very much the way they came across to my D as not wanting to do it again). They came across much differently in this meeting and an observer might wonder where I ever got the idea they discouraged them from doing it this year. My D told me later that it was like an "about face". </p>
<p>We discussed the dates. It ended positively and my D did not say one way or the other what she was going to do but she sounded enthusiastic in the meeting but was then late to class. </p>
<p>I spoke to her GC afterwards and he was not aware of last week's background other than my D had informed him that the music staff was discouraging her from pursuing her new show and was not sure it was happening after all. He asked me who called the meeting and I let him know that it was not me but them and they had told the kids they were not interested in discussing it with them directly. He could hardly believe it as he thinks this entire endeavor was the best thing he has ever seen at the school and something to be encouraged. He recognized that although my D said her spirit was dampened, that it would was not be drowned because she is someone you can't keep down and was already working on the next initiative. He feels that their issues are one to do with those who rise to excellence and maintaining a sense of mediocrity as well as he could see how the kids' focus, pride, and enrapturement with the endeavor was due in part to the empowerment they felt in doing it themselves. That may make the teacher feel that her activities were not as appealing or feel threatened by it in some way. Rather than look at what the kids achieved and the positive attention it brought the school or music department and how educators might want to encourage such things, they had seen it as a negative. He cannot understand any of it. He really is someone who supports kids and things like this. He really wants to see my D do it again. He also cannot understand why they did not mention any of their negative feedack at the time and waited until now to say a thing. I would concur with his notion that once an activity is finished, particularly a new endeavor, you might meet with kids to assess how it went. That would be the time to see what might be improved. There were opportunities even while the rehearsals were taking place to address such concerns with the kids. </p>
<p>Now, my daughter thinks she is going to do it afterall because for one thing, in her heart of hearts, she always wanted to do it until this came up. She would not want to let down the other cast members who she signed commitments with her almost two months ago to start this project in two weeks (when she is done her current show out of town). It is not as if she can say, I am just going to do the two person published musical now instead because it is not as if the music department disallowed her musical cabaret. However, she got so psyched about putting on the two person known musical that she does not want to give that up now. One issue is that she must start in two weeks in order to have the show go up in Jan. before the school musical starts and she has yet to procure the rights or hire a pianist for that show.She has barely any lead time whereas she has planned the other show out for quite some time ahead of time to get it ready though it involves WAY more work. So, now, she talked it over with the male theater friend she was going to do the other show with when they thought the cabaret might be off, and they are going to try to get the rights and fit that show in during May/June, the next available time (before she graduates!) which will also be nutty with all the dance performances she has at that time of year around the region but they want to do it badly and can plan a lot of it ahead and get the show rehearsed in about six weeks if only two kids are in it.</p>
<p>So, as of this moment ,she is doing BOTH! oy! Never a dull moment. She is a very driven person and musical theater goes to the core of her being. It is who she is. That part is hard to explain to someone who might just see it as another activity. It's her life and that is part of why this discouragement to do this successful student run show again was a let down. She spent so long creating it that I am glad her vision will be realized but moreover that the other kids will benefit in the experience and challenges they will have doing it and the community will benefit by their gifts to them and also whatever charity they put the proceeds toward. I feel badly that the music teacher felt as she did but wish she could see the really good aspects as well. Anyway, there were no new things that came up in the meeting that were not said to my D last week so there was not some hidden "adult" agenda they had to tell me that some of us thought maybe was why I was called in. I truthfully think this meeting could have been held with the cast of 16/17 year olds. </p>
<p>So that is the upshot and it is pretty positive but I hope that they lend support to it. Last year, often the choral teacher did seem to get in the way of their efforts as she would call last minute select choir rehearsals at times nobody commited to on their schedules but held them right when she knew that the very same kids were scheduled to do cabaret rehearsals even in their final week prior to the show, and it was kinda blatant. That is why I had this inkling that I posted earlier that she was sort of working against them and not into the student run show even though initially she said it would be fine if my D led one. </p>
<p>None of our discussion focused on my D herself or any problems they had with her specifically and that point was even made...it was more the whole "idea" of this student run show. I just wish they addressed all the kids in it and hopefully they will.</p>