I will have to say that I agree with Point #1. At one time, this was a true educational board where one could come and find useful information about upcoming events and even read some interesting viewpoints about performance issues. That ship sailed long ago and now it is purely read by me for entertainment when nothing else is available.

You have peaked my interest though. You seem to be an expert in exceptional performance and I am always interested in ways to be exceptional. There are many different ways to motivate students. I have been teaching for 19 years and what worked when I started certainly doesn't always work today. Positive feedback and encouragement are things that are very much needed by students today. I know Mr. Rapini and Mr. Blair personally and have great respect for the programs that they are building. This job is not easy. The challenges that we face everyday are enormous, but we respond to those challenges with great courage. We all respond to those challenges in different ways. What might work in Park Hills may not work in Ste Gen. The challenges faced in Ware, are certainly different from those in Farmington.

I believe that we have quality music educators in the this part of the state and I believe that our students are receiving a quality education. I have one or two students a year who go on to study music beyond high school, but I have many more who go on to study something beyond high school and the things that they learned in our program will have a positive impact on whatever it is that they end up doing.

I don't know what your goal in education is, but mine is whatever is best for my students. I have been around long enough to have pretty much experienced it all in terms of achievement. 1st Place trophies, caption awards, 1 Ratings at contest, etc. All of those things pale in comparison to the lasting effects that the rehearsals, experiences and performances that lead to those awards created.

I don't give out my advice very often and certainly don't give it when it wasn't asked for, but here is something for you to chew on. Before you criticize an educator for the postive things they are doing, go walk a mile or two in their shoes. After you do that, I would recommend that you clean the window that you view things from. I have often realized that what I see changes when I am looking through a clean window.