If you ever attend an Arlington High School sports rally, you will experience the loud, proud and spirited atmosphere that AHS is known for. A particular environment in which the signature AHS atmosphere can be experienced is at one of their home football games.

In preparation for these events, players have worked tirelessly in practicing their drills and skirmishes with their teammates. The AHS cheerleaders have memorized every step and detail while leading the student section in chants; the student section perhaps is the soul of an AHS sports game as they hoot and holler during times of victory and even defeat.

But the most powerful and audible aspect of an AHS sports rally is the pep band, with bombastic drums, angelic trumpets and devilish trombones that. AHS musicians, under the direction of John Grabowski, enhance the positivity and excitement that is present at an AHS Eagles football game.

With the new school year at hand, Mr. Grabowski, or “G”, as he is referred to mostly by his students, is always excited with the new batch of freshman students who are eager to learn about music at a high school level.

This enthusiasm also translates well with upperclassmen musicians, who serve as role models and sources of inspiration. Every year, the upperclassmen are always helping the new freshmen students with their first footsteps in music every year.

Certainly impassioned, this school year and the year before that, however, have been a challenge.

Significant budget reductions have put a strain on the music program here at AHS, and the rest of the Arlington School District.

Recently, the music program at the fifth grade elementary school level has been removed, making the Arlington School District music program begin at the sixth grade level. Furthermore, the sixth grade program is on an every-other-day schedule.

There were many contributing factors to this change such as a financial issue of money, but perhaps the leading cause was the fact Arlington School District was singled out as one of the only districts to have a music program available at the fifth grade level.

“We were faced with significant budget reductions in the 2008-2009 school year,” Superintendent Dr. Kris McDuffy of Arlington School District said.

Elementary school principals have had difficulties for years on fitting the music program into the schedule given the fact that not all students enroll in the music course.

In comparison to other neighboring school districts, Arlington was one of the very few that offered elementary band during the school day. Most other districts only provide elementary band either before or after the school day.

“When we compare ourselves to other school districts, we’re looking for data in similar sized schools, and very few had programs remaining,” McDuffy said.

The budget cuts not only affected the fifth grade music program, but also reduced the seventh grade basketball program, simply because there aren’t enough schools in our league to compete with the same programs. In the board’s prioritizing of the different programs within the school to which money is allocated, the classroom is always considered the most essential area of funding.

This decision could’ve had a detrimental impact on the quality of musicianship produced at Arlington and the rest of the community. With these kinds of decisions at hand, Arlington School District acts very prudently to serve their schools and their community.

The process in which budget reductions are approved is very detailed and thorough. First, when decisions have to be made, it starts with the Advisory Council for Education, or the ACE Committee. It is a board-recognized advisory body that is a diverse array of advisors who serve as filters for the school that review decisions monthly. Then ultimately, the school board adopts the decision.

“We spend hundreds of hours looking at our decisions from a team perspective…and we still do. It’s never easy,” McDuffy said.

From there, the strict budget is divided to other needs, such as food services, transportation, co-curricular and athletic activities.

“I’m a huge supporter of the arts and the music program, and I’m so impressed with the work that our staff does in preparing our students,” McDuffy says. “We wish we could afford everything…but there simply isn’t enough time in the day.”

This new freshmen class are one of the first to have begun music at the sixth grade level. It’s hard to tell what the future holds for the Arlington music program.

“There is a law of average,” Music Director Grabowski said. Perhaps we will have to wait and see how musicians trained at the sixth grade level will succeed after all remaining musicians who began in the fifth grade graduate; and after more students join AHS, we will have to assess whether or not starting music at the sixth grade rather than the fifth grade hinders Arlington School District and abates the music program in quality at Arlington High School.

But if Arlington Eagles have proved anything, it’s that students are resilient and are able to adapt; turning iron into steel and manufacturing greatness in the form of music.