AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SOMSD BOARD OF EDUCATION AND OUR COMMUNITY

June 18, 2026

To the South Orange–Maplewood Board of Education and our neighbors:

Right now, as Columbia High School students finalize their schedules for next year, rising 9th graders are being turned away from a class they want to take and the District says it values: Music Technology.

We are writing publicly because the window to fix this is closing, and the families affected have not received an answer.

On June 11, the Music Parents Association wrote to Superintendent Bing and this Board asking a narrow question: restore 9th-grade access to Music Technology 1 and Intro to Music Theory. The Music Technology pathway begins in 9th grade. When freshmen were excluded under the Freshman Academy, the program began emptying from the bottom up. By the District's own figures, entry enrollment has fallen from the high 60s–70s to 34; the entry course has gone from five sections to two, and total Music Technology sections are dropping from seven last year to five next year, and a projected three the following year -- not because students don't want the class, but because freshmen are barred from it.  We want to emphasize: the request does not conflict with the positive results of the Freshman Academy. They still receive the same benefit of a designated area in the school and core teachers, we are just asking for these electives to be included in the choices they have already for accessing other areas of the building.

The heart of this is music theory. The District has noted that students can still complete the music-technology certificate after starting in 10th grade. But that misses the real loss: 9th-grade Intro to Music Theory is the only in-school path to AP Music Theory in 10th grade. Taking it freshman year also leaves the junior and senior schedule open for the many other AP courses and electives the school encourages students to explore – so an early start widens a student's options rather than narrowing them. Close that 9th-grade door, and reaching AP-- along with the advanced standing that strengthens a college application in the field-- comes to depend on private lessons families pay for themselves. A scheduling choice has become a question of who can afford access.

We received two responses. The Superintendent told us the exclusion is intentional -- a design choice to keep freshmen focused on core requirements. The Principal told us the class is reserved for upperclassmen because seats are limited. Both explanations collide with the same fact: Music Technology is not full. The District is declining to run sections for lack of students while turning away the very freshmen who would fill them. In the same reply, we were told the classroom was enlarged and new equipment added to grow the program. A program cannot be out of seats and unable to fill seats at once.

The scheduling now being finalized makes the problem worse. The single section of Music Technology 2 has been placed in the first semester-- which prevents any student from taking Music Tech 1 and 2 in the same year. A junior hoping to begin the pathway now could not complete it before graduation. The door isn't just narrowed for freshmen; it's being closed behind the students already trying to walk through it.

At last Thursday's Board meeting, students spoke for themselves. Several described music and arts classes as the foundation of a college portfolio -- and, in some cases, the start of paid work in the field. One student, who asked to remain anonymous, put it directly: "The fact that I got to take Music Technology 1 my freshman year gave me significantly more time to build up knowledge and build a portfolio-- something instrumental for getting into colleges, receiving scholarships, and finding paid work in the field, which I have. Freshmen are not getting that chance for a year of extra self-guided time, because the class isn't offered to them." Other students described arts classes as an anchor for their mental health and a reason to stay engaged at school. That testimony is worth weighing against the District's own stated concern-- rising student mental-health needs-- which it has cited as a reason for the Freshman Academy. Students are telling the Board that early arts access is part of the answer, not a distraction from it. That same evening, the District's budget presentation displayed Music Technology on screen as one of five signature "Career Pathways." A career pathway needs an entrance.

This is a program worth protecting. Last month, students planned and ran Beatfest-- more than 40 performers across 15 acts-- which made the front page of the Essex News Daily print edition; students have released their own self-produced albums; and the program's teacher is a current quarterfinalist for the Music Educator Award presented by the Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Museum. The pipeline now being closed is the same one that produced all of it.

We came to listen and to be heard. Instead, a lengthy administrative presentation preceded public comment, the comment period was compressed, and-- at least during the portion of the meeting we were present for-- the Board offered no commitment in response to the students and parents who came to speak.

So we are asking publicly:

Let these students enroll now. Registration is being finalized. The seats exist. The teacher is on staff. The equipment is bought and paid for. Admitting interested 9th graders into open seats in Music Technology 1 and Intro to Music Theory-- and scheduling the sections so the pathway can actually be completed-- costs the District nothing and displaces no upperclassmen. Where a section would not otherwise run, freshmen are how it runs.

Far from asking the District to spend, CHSMPA is doing the opposite-- we fund and staff this program's events, as we have since its inception, and we are actively pursuing outside grants to expand its equipment and software. We are investing in this program's growth, because we know what a significant and positive impact it has. We are asking the District not to cap it. This is a request to stop leaving paid-for seats empty in a program the District calls a model. We invite the Board to act before schedules lock, and we invite our community-- students, parents, and neighbors who believe arts access belongs to every child-- to stand with us.

Respectfully,

The Board of the Columbia High School Music Parents Association