Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of articles the Daphne Bulletin plans to publish on school programs affected by the economic recession.

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DAPHNE, Ala.—Like a tree no one hears fall, what happens to the choir student’s voice when program funding is axed?

If no money is available, no teacher rehired, does the student keep singing? Or is that song buried beneath the stresses of passing core curriculum tests while satisfying No Child Left Behind requirements?

Such is the state Baldwin County public schools face as the Board of Education deals with a $23 million deficit and decides which programs to keep and which teachers must be let go.

As of press deadline, approximately 330 education professionals learned they would not be rehired; termination is effective with this school year’s end. No particular area of study was targeted, according to school officials who said non-tenured teachers first were selected for layoffs.

However, “they’re not all teachers,” Vicky Cook, the school system’s fine-arts and library supervisor, said. “Some are classified workers,” or paraprofessionals, teaching aides and counselors.

School choirs will bear the biggest brunt, Cook said.

“Choir, it seems, is taking the biggest hit,” she said. “There just isn’t a large pool of choir teachers in the state.”

Having tenured choir instructors who could serve in dual capacities—someone, for instance, who also could instruct a core subject such as math, science, English or social studies—would be one way to save choir programs, Daphne High School Principal Don Blanchard said. However, he said, DHS has no such teacher certified to teach both core and fine-arts subjects. 

While high-school fine-arts programs feel the impact, Cook said the school board will not cut elementary schools’ music curricula.

“We are trying to maintain our elementary music program,” she said. Elementary schools currently alternate between music studies one week, art the next.

Cook, at the school board’s June 16 meeting, will present her case to save high schools’ fine-arts programs.

“I do not seek to cut any units in this county, only to advocate the importance the arts make in the lives of students ‘at risk’ and in need of a structured and creative process only available to them by the public-school system.

“(Baldwin County public schools Superintendent  Faron Hollinger and Instructional Support Director Dr. Pam Henson) have been extremely supportive of the arts over the last four years and I have confidence through their educational research and knowledge they will continue to support the arts,” she said.

Eliminating hundreds of teaching jobs means some remaining teachers must fill in the gaps—possibly teaching to larger classes.

“It might mean that secondary (high-school) tenured teachers may have to pick up the slack,” Cook said. “If we have tenured people in fine arts and music, then we may have to let the one- or two-year people go.”

There is some hope; the school board awaits the Alabama Legislature’s passage of a K-12 budget, which will determine how much funding the county will receive and how many teachers may be rehired.

Meantime, a school spokesperson wanted to make clear that no enemies exist in this issue.

“I want to stress that … what we’re facing is beyond (Daphne High Principal Don) Blachard’s control, even beyond the Baldwin County Board of Education’s control,” the school system’s communications director, Terry Wilhite, said.

“As any of us would have to do at home if a large chunk of our income suddenly disappeared, tough choices have to be made and immediate priorities established,” he said. “When there is no money, there is no choice but to cut programs and people.”

Cook agreed.

“Difficult choices have had to be made by Baldwin County administration due to reasons beyond our control,” she said.