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Supporters of school music programs are calling it the Last Stand protest. They plan to line Douglas Street on Saturday from Boleskine Road to the legislature, a demonstration stretching nearly five kilometres.
Boleskine Road is the starting point because it’s where the Greater Victoria School District offices are located.
Several demonstrations featuring student performers have been held in recent weeks because of proposed cuts to music programs in the district. Saturday’s gathering, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., comes two days before the school board passes its 2021-22 budget, with music and a number of other items facing cuts.
The board is trying to balance the budget despite a $7-million deficit. So far, cuts have included time dedicated to vice-principal duties.
More than $1 million in music programs — including Grade 6, 7 and 8 band, Grade 5 strings, middle-school strings and choirs, and a district ukulele program — have faced the axe.
Also under threat are educational assistants, a primary-grades reading program for students who need extra help, youth and family counsellors, programs for gifted students and the hiring of clerical staff, including library clerks.
Meal programs were on the list, but will now remain intact.
Savings of $1.1 million were found recently by the district and earmarked for a year of Grade 6, 7 and 8 band and for the hiring of educational assistants, whose role includes working one-on-one with students. But there is still a deficit.
Cindy Romphf, president of the Greater Victoria Music Educators’ Association, said people are being assigned a specific spot for the protest. By Tuesday, 300 groups were set to take part.
It could well be a musical protest, as the previous ones have been.
“I think some of the kids will have instruments and I know that there are some of the professional musicians that are supporting us coming out, and they might also have their instruments, ” Romphf said.
Saturday’s protest is also for those who are concerned about the non-music programs that could be affected by the budget, she said.
Romphf said that music in schools has a far-reaching impact.
“That’s what we’re trying to show them — that these cuts that they’re making affect not just our school communities but the greater community of Victoria,” she said. “This is why we have thousands of letters being submitted, letters to the editor.”
That includes correspondence to the school board from Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Romphf said.
“And we have a letter from David Foster himself and a video.”
Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association president Winona Waldron said she will attend the protest.
Organizers are doing a lot of work to ensure physical distancing, she said.
The effort being made “shows the community commitment and upset” against the possibility of cuts, Waldron said.
School board chair Jordan Watters said trustees admire the passion behind the protests.
“We absolutely appreciate how engaged our community has been in the process,” she said.
The board is still weighing what will happen with the budget, Watters said. “I expect that there will likely be an adjustment or two before it goes forward.” She said there is no “magic pot of money” to put into the budget to avoid cuts.
“I know what a lot of people want is to see no cuts at all,” she said. “Of course, we’d all like to see that but, unfortunately, that’s just not the reality of the situation.”
jbell@timescolonist.com
> People can register for Last Stand on this Google form: forms.gle/qjFYF9pCpfVupPPB7. You can also contact ­Lansdownemusic@gmail.com.