Newsroom – California State University, Northridge

CHIME Students Hold Walk-N-Roll-A-Thon to Save Their Music Program

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Jan. 13th, 2010) ―

They did it last year, and the students at the CHIME Institute’s Arnold Schwarzenegger Charter Elementary School, which has extensive ties to Cal State Northridge, are determined that they can do it again. They are going to save their music program.

On Friday, Jan. 29, more than 320 kindergarten through fifth grade students are going to run, walk and roll their wheelchairs around the school track in an effort to save their music teacher’s job. They are asking their friends and family members to support their efforts by pledging a flat amount or an amount per lap.

“The amazing thing about this event is the community support and care for music instruction. The commitment of these families and their children to ensuring that we have a music program is literally demonstrated with the rubber hitting the road,” said Julie Fabrocini, the elementary school’s principal and executive director of the institute’s schools program.

The Walk-N-Roll-A-Thon is scheduled to take place from 1:15 to 2:30 p.m. at the school located at 19722 Collier St. in Woodland Hills. The kindergartners will begin their quest at 1:15 p.m., followed by the first through fifth graders at 2 p.m.

Braving rain and mud last year, the elementary school students ran, walked and rolled their wheelchairs around the school track and raised more than $48,000 in pledges and donations. They were able to save their music program through June 2010.

But the state budget’s situation in many ways has gotten worse, and the music program’s future in the 2010-2011 school year, and beyond, is threatened again.

“The state’s budget crisis has impacted our ability to pay for high-quality classroom teachers,” Fabrocini said. “As always when we have to weigh the state’s requirements against children’s needs, the arts end up on the chopping block. What is most difficult about this is that we have no choice in the matter. Without these kids and their parents, we would continue to have no choices.”

Parent Cynthia E. Griffiths, whose son, Cole, attends the school, is determined to do what she can to save the music program.

“I think the music program is a vital component to our children’s education,” she said. “Studies show that exposure to music education can increase math and reading skills. Music also provides an opportunity for our children to learn about different cultures and eras through song. It’s also a wonderful group activity where children are coming together to create something and to share it with others through performance.

“I am fighting to save the program for Cole,” Griffiths said. “He loves music and has gained so much in having the chance to play instruments and to perform with his classmates.”

The school’s music program is headed by Kelly O’Brien, a credentialed music teacher who divides her time between the institute’s two schools-the Schwarzenegger elementary school and CHIME Charter Middle School, both of which serve as demonstration and teacher-training sites for Cal State Northridge’s Michael D. Eisner College of Education.

The CHIME Institute, located in part at Cal State Northridge, is a national leader in developing and implementing model educational programs and dynamic research and training environments to disseminate best practices in inclusive education. The institute’s research and training center is housed in the Eisner College of Education. The CHIME Institute offers an infant/toddler program and a preschool/kindergarten inclusion program, which is located a CSUN.

The institute operates two charter schools, the elementary school in Woodland Hills and the middle school in Chatsworth. Both schools are independent schools that provide free public education through affiliation with the Los Angeles Unified School District. The work of the institute has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a national model for full inclusion of students with disabilities and for providing a blueprint for local schools across the country.

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