PEORIA, Ill. – Another point of contention for the Peoria Federation of Teachers when another round of contract talks with them, the district, and a federal mediator takes place Wednesday may be the district’s music programs.
Union officials say in a social media post the district talked as recently as last week about potentially dissolving the orchestra and band programs at both Peoria Central and Manual High Schools.
The union claims they can’t get the administration to “definitively” tell them it won’t happen.
But, a statement from the district obtained by WMBD News says the district will not dissolve such programs — rather, they’re looking at ways to, quote, “revitalize” the Instrumental program district-wide.
The union says they’d like to see that in writing.
The full statements from the district and the union are below.
“The band and orchestra programs at PHS and Manual are not being dissolved. Our instrumental directors are meeting to develop a plan to revitalize the instrumental program across the whole district. They will share their plan with Dr. Desmoulin-Kherat for consideration of implementation.” — Haleemah Na’Allah, Director of Public Relations and Community Engagement, Peoria Public Schools
