To the editor:

As a graduate of McLeansboro High School Class of 1999 and a current band director in Southern Illinois, I am appalled at the letter written last week (March 18, Page 4A) by Linda Shaw.

The thing that catches my attention most is its hypocrisy. How can you possibly be worried about the education of children when you do not have any concept of what an “educator” is?

Obviously, Mrs. Shaw, you have never stepped foot in a band classroom, nor have you ever attended a band concert or parade. I can tell you quite frankly that being a band director is one of the most challenging and time-consuming positions within a school district.

Referring to the music program as “noneducational” is completely senseless.

I took the same training and fulfilled the same teaching requirements as all other teachers. Much of this involved participating in the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale orchestra, wind ensemble, marching Salukis with many after-hour concerts and recitals.

While bands provide entertainment for sporting events, concerts and parades, moreover, these events showcase what we have “taught” our children and perform what they have “learned.” I invite you, Mrs. Shaw, to come into my classroom at Trico School on any given day and then tell me with no reserve that all I do for a day is not educational!

I also find it humorous, to be frank, that you believe music and sports do not teach children to make decisions for the “benefit of the future” and are merely for “entertainment.”

As a current member of Illinois Army National Guard 144th Army Band, based out of Camp Lincoln in Springfield, I can tell you most certainly that music has been a large benefit to my future. By taking band in both grade school and high school with former Hamilton County band directors Jerry Prince and Daris Wise, I am able to provide health benefits for my wife and son, protect my country and bring home a paycheck from both the Army and the school. I guess that doesn’t qualify to you as having been a benefit to my future!

With almost all school districts making cuts, I know firsthand how frustrating it is for the board members and administrators as well as those who may have or have lost their jobs.

I can also tell you that all of us who work at schools believe that no one teacher is any better than the other. Obviously, you believe that some teachers don’t deserve to be included in being labeled as “EDUCATORS.”

I can also tell you, Mrs. Shaw, that most school districts require an itemized listing of expenses that directors must fill out and have pre-approved. This includes buses for parades, entrance fees for contests, requests for payments and much more.

If the board and administration feel as though the expenses are greater than the benefits, or do not include any educational value, they will not approve them.

Many of the expenses of a band program are not the responsibility of the district; they are the responsibility of the parents. This includes instrument payments and repairs, marching shoes, uniforms and other various fees.

This year, money raised by our TRICO Band Boosters program went toward the purchase and painting of a band trailer. We are currently fundraising for new uniforms.

This money will NOT be paid by the district. It will be paid out of the band’s own fund. Before you make assumptions, make sure you have facts.

If entertainment is not important to our children and our community, can you explain to me why thousands of people, including children, came to this year’s Fall Festival and enjoyed listening to the music of the Oak Ridge Boys?

If music is not important enough to keep in schools, cut it out of churches, close all radio stations and disband all music groups that also love their jobs and provide for themselves and their families. I am sure you wouldn’t mind this, since you say we can do without it!

I am offended by your degrading attitude toward EDUCATORS of sports and music. I am ashamed that you would write a letter (about a subject) of which you obviously have no real understanding.

I wonder, if the shoe were on your foot, would you be so apt to wear it? If you were an educator, would you have the guts to stand in a room of colleagues, including band teachers and coaches, and tell them that what they do every day is noneducational?

I will protect our country when needed and continue to educate our children every day. I am PROUD to be an Army bandsman and an EDUCATOR!

Spec. Keith J. Shasteen

Pinckneyville