Support our Teachers!

There are few teachers who I can look back on now and remember their classes vividly, even though I'm sure they were great teachers and the subject was enlightening. I was fortunate to have 2 teachers that made such an impact on my life that I still recall going to their classes and I consider them to be my friends to this very day. One is my high school drama teacher, Lynn, and the other is my high school choir teacher, Alison. Both teachers made profound impacts on my development and I have such fond memories of both of them. I recently had the pleasure of hosting a farewell party/concert for Alison.

Due to budget cuts, the choir program at Northglenn High School has been whittled down to almost nothing, and in order to stay employed full-time, Alison had to transfer to an elementary school. She had spent the past 15 years at Northglenn High School building the choir program into something extraordinary. When she started, there were 4 choirs available. At the peak of the NGHS choir program, there were at least 6 choirs offered (possibly 7 – I’m not sure of the overlap after I graduated). Now, after budget cuts, there will be only ::gulp:: 2 choirs remaining. (According to a parent I spoke with at Alison’s party.)


When I was little, I watched my sister go through the NGHS choir program and I couldn’t wait for the day when I could sing with all those choirs. During my 4 years in high school, I had the privilege of singing in every choir available at the time, including the 2 vocal jazz ensembles. In my senior year, I sang in 3 choirs and even went to lunch nearly every day with Alison and Lynn (Yes, I was THAT student). So, that was 4 hours a day spent with Alison and honestly, I enjoyed every single minute of it. I worked my tail off in every one of those classes. Not being born with a natural talent for singing, I had to focus extremely hard on staying in key, sight reading, and blending with the group. Alison shared her passion for music through her teaching and it made all of us passionate about too. She inspired us to be better musicians and better people, and “good enough” was never acceptable.


I have seen so many exceptionally talented kids come out of the NGHS choir program, and these voices were all on display at the party/concert we held for Alison earlier in August. There were tons of A-MAH-ZING singers that owe a little, if not A LOT, of their success to our amazing choir teacher. Close to 200 people showed up to honor Alison, some of them driving or flying in from across the country. It’s obvious that Alison impacted her student’s lives on so many levels – I just wish the district could have been there to witness it.


A group of us singing at Alison's farewell party/concert



It’s heartbreaking to watch a program you loved and cherished so much go down the tubes simply because there is no money. It’s beyond frustrating to see talented, dedicated, and passionate teachers being tossed around the district just so they can remain employed. In fact, it’s sickening. So many kids are now missing out on an opportunity that I believe would make them more well-rounded, harder working, and just overall better people. Kids deserve GREAT teachers and opportunities to express themselves. But, we treat teachers like second class citizens and force them to do arguably one of THE MOST important jobs with little to no resources, support, or compensation.


I try not to get too political on my blog, but please, for the love of god, support our schools! The next time there is a ballot measure asking you to pay a small percentage more in taxes to support your local school district, VOTE YES, DAMNIT! We can’t expect our children to be well educated and have access to opportunities when we keep voting down measures because we are too cheap to pay our share. Every kid deserves to have fabulous teachers like Alison and Lynn in their lives, but if we keep screwing over our teachers and schools, amazing people will stop choosing teaching as a profession and amazing programs like choir will be a thing of the past.