PMEA District 12
PMEA D12 mourns the loss of two outstanding music educators from our area. Larry McGriff, a music educator in the Marple Newtown School District, passed away in November 2018. Irving Jacobson, a music educator in the Rose Tree Media School District, passed away in March 2019.
Our PMEA/NAfME Eastern Division Conference was held in Pittsburgh earlier this month. Congratulations to the following D12 members who presented sessions or had performing groups:
A special thank you goes out to Julie Allport, Patrick Hein, and Marcus Myers for serving as chaperones for the All-State Festival as well!
West Chester University’s NAfME chapter hosted a “Day of Music” on February 2nd, 2019. Middle school students from several local schools attended a day of workshops and masterclasses taught by WCU Music Education students. All students participated in a masterclass on their primary instrument and chose from several workshops such as ear training, practice techniques, and jazz improvisation. The event will be offered again in the Fall of 2019. If you would like more information about this event, please contact the PCMEA representive for D12, Kendra Woywod.
I’d like to begin by thanking all of our PMEA Festival hosts for the 2018- 2019 School Year! You have given your time and energy to provide memorable and inspiring experiences for hundreds of students. Thank you!
2019-2020 HS Festivals are listed below. Elementary and MS Fests will be announced throughout the summer and fall.
| District Chorus | 1/16-1/18 | Sun Valley HS Nicole Moyer, host |
| District Band | 2/13-2/15 | Radnor HS Dan Drew, host |
| District Orchestra | 1/30-2/1 | Upper Darby HS Molly Radford, host |
| Region Chorus | 2/27-2/29 | District 11 Host |
| Region Band | 3/26-3/28 | Avon Grove HS Michael Davino, host |
| Region Orchestra | 3/12-3/14 | District 11 Host |
-Jeff Hart
D12 Festival Coordinator
PMEA’s 8th Annual Music Education Advocacy Day on Monday, April 29 will take place in Harrisburg. This is a great opportunity for you to take an active role, meeting with your representatives, attending the PMEA presentation and news conference and enjoying the musical ensemble performances. Additional details are available here
PMEA has created a Title IV Funding Tool Kit now available on the state advocacy homepage. Please take time to make use of this valuable resource for requesting additional funding. There are examples of real-life Title IV success stories that you can easily use to help you make a case for funding in your own district.
Last Spring, we lost a dear friend to PMEA and outstanding music educator
when Jack Hontz, Director of Instrumental Music at Strath Haven High School, passed away. PMEA District 12 presented a scholarship in Jack’s name to Cass Durgin, a graduate of Strath Haven High School, in July. We have no doubt that Mr. Hontz had a profound impact on her life and the lives of countless others.
We are pleased to say that all of our fests in D12 for the 2018-2019 school year have hosts and those hosts are already busy doing the preliminary work to get the fest going. A fest is a one-day event that students
participate in through their music director. Over the years, we have had many young students participate in these fests and as I say in “the speech” – it is only the beginning of a long road of participating in PMEA sponsored events and many of the students in our fests make friends with their section members and they will continue to play or sing beside them for many years to come.
If you have participated in the past, your name will be on the group e-mail and one of the hosts will send a “first call” for all who want to attend. If you have not participated before or not for a while, then you should contact one of the hosts and tell them of your interest. The responsibilities for a director are: follow the selection process to choose your students to participate, turn in all of the paperwork and fees in a timely manner, make sure your
students are well-prepared for the day of the fest (possibly hold before or after school extra rehearsals), and attend the entire day of the fest – please do not ask to be excused for any reason. We’re looking forward to a busy fest season.
Would you like to help your administrator spend money on your music program? Administrators rarely ask for help spending money. However, they very well might welcome help with understanding how to meet the new requirements for the Future Ready PA Index and Title IV Part A funding needs assessment. School districts that receive more than $30,000 in Title IV funds MUST SPEND AT LEAST 20% on well-rounded education (music, art, PE, STEM). In this scenario, that’s at least $6,000!
Your school district needs to report on these well-rounded education needs, as well as student evidence for the College and Career Readiness Standards. There are plenty of these skills that you develop in your music classes and ensembles that could easily lend themselves to documentation and artifacts that your students and district will need.
You can find the College and Career readiness standards on the PDE site. You can find lots of easy to understand information on ESSA and Title IV funding on the NAfME site under the Advocacy menu.
While you are on that site, you should definitely download the Opportunity to Learn Standards. This document is a great advocacy tool (even though districts are not bound to these standards)
PMEA District 12 is again hosting two large ensemble assessment festivals this spring. We hope that you will take the next step in your ensemble’s musical development and participate in these valuable tools.
The state-approved rubric combined with quality feedback provides you with some strong data that you can use to promote your ensemble’s program within your school district!
This year’s events are being held on March 13th @ Phoenixville High School (afternoon/evening performances) and March 28th: Radnor High School (morning/afternoon performances).
There is also a choral adjudication being hosted at Immaculata University
on March 27th.
District 11 is hosting two adjuications at Central Bucks East on Wednesday, February 27, 2019 and Thursday, April 25, 2019.
Spots are starting to fill up already! To get your name on the list, just send me a response back. Please feel free to pass this info on to your middle school and orchestra teachers as well. These are designed for
all levels. You can also view a list of who participated in one of these last year here:
https://www.pmea.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/ADJ18-ParticipatingEnsembles.pdf
If you have any questions – please contact either myself or Dan Drew @ Radnor HS.
Welcome to the 2018-2019 school year after what was hopefully a lovely summer. My name is Erin Kauppila. I am the Director of Instrumental Music at Oxford Area High School in Southern Chester County, and am honored to be serving as your PMEA District 12 President. I have been a member of the District 12 Board since 2012; serving for almost four years on the Professional Development Committee, two years as President Elect, and I am currently in my second year in the position of President. I am
a proud member of PMEA and thank you for entrusting me with such an important responsibility.
The mission of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association is to advance
comprehensive and innovative music education for all students through quality teaching, rigorous learning, and meaningful music engagement. In District 12, we strive to meet the mission statement by providing resources to teachers, experiences for students, and financial support in the form of scholarships and teacher grants.
We have some changes on our PMEA Distict 12 Board. Matthew Ceresini was recently hired as the band director at Hempfield High School so he is now a member of PMEA District 7 and will is longer eligible to serve on our executive board. Matt did an extraordinary job in the role of President Elect and we appreciate his service to our association. Stepping in to continue Matt’s term as President Elect and President next year is Justin McAdams from Phoenixville High School. Justin hosted an excellent band
festival a few years ago and coordinated PMEA Music Performance Assessments at his school for many years. Welcome Justin!
Our Secretary/Treasurer since 2008, Kevin Cooper, is stepping down from his position on our board. Kevin has worked tirelessly in the position for 10 years. He compiled our newsletters, collected registration fees, monitored membership, helped with festival and in-service registrations, and maintained our emails. Kevin was an asset to the District 12 Board and he will be missed. Thank you for your service, Kevin. Luckily, Hannah Knauss from Interboro High School has stepped up to fill the role of Secretary/Treasurer. Hannah just graduated from our PMEA Leadership Academy and was the recipient of the PMEA Young Educator Award. Welcome Hannah!
On behalf of the PMEA District 12 Board, I would like to welcome you to the
2018-2019 school year and wish you much success in your endeavors. Should you have any questions regarding PMEA or District 12, please do not hesitate to contact me at president@pmea12.org or any other members of our District 12 Board.