Education: Don’t Beat the Band

The school board of Parchment, Mich, (pop. 1,500), near Kalamazoo, last week faced an astonishing dilemma. For $30,000 it must build either 1) two new classrooms at an overcrowded elementary school, or 2) a fancy band room at the brand-new Parchment High School. Why is the band room more important? Because the high school is not yet accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools—and apparently will not be without a band room.

This intelligence comes from Dr. Ray E. Kehoe, associate director of the University of Michigan’s Bureau of School Services, who cased Parchment High last month. Dr. Kehoe failed to observe the deficiency of the school library, which needs $15,000 worth of new books. He concentrated on the present 52-ft.-by-311ft, music room, which in his view does not meet N.C.A. standards. The school, said he, needs a soundproof band room, practice rooms, and a room for storing instruments and uniforms.

To Parchment’s five-man school board, the band room is politically more important than the elementary classrooms. The voters demand an accredited high school so that graduates can get into college. Last week, growing publicity over the board’s indicated decision sent the members scurrying for “no comment” cover. That left School Superintendent Fred Hall to face newsmen. Said he: “I deplore the sudden rise of little Parchment in the educational world. I am deathly afraid of notoriety.”