Germ-phobic bill with major school music budget impact

[bettyw.livejournal.com]

FYI - this was just posted to the Arts Council list, and as a strong proponent of keeping music in the schools I call it to your attention:

Music in Schools
Posted by: jennifercapuano
Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:55 am (PDT)

Hello,

I'm writing to alert you to a bill (House No. 111 Requiring the Sterilization of Musical Instruments in Schools) which would require that any musical wind instrument provided by any school, public or private, to students in grades pre-K-12 be thoroughly sterilized prior to each student's use. This means not just sterilizing the mouth piece (which Somerville schools already do), but sterilizing the entire instrument by taking it to a certified facility (each time, prior to every use) where it is blasted with a gas used to sterilize medical equipment.

At a minimum cost to Somerville Public Schools of $70,000 per year to sterilize music instruments, this requirement would end wind instrument instruction and band programming in our public schools.

There are bacteria and pathogens throughout our schools. Are we going to start sterilizing all shared equipment? How about books, pencils, computers, sports equipment, art supplies? Musical instruments are not medical equipment. While sharing an instrument may increase the risk of certain illnesses, according to the article that ran in 6/4/09 issue of Boston Globe, there is "a lack of diagnosed cases." Band leaders, music instructors and directors find it unnecessary.

Despite severe budget cuts, Somerville's music program has been retained in the current school budget rounds. Under Music Director Richard Saunders' leadership, participation in the Somerville High School band has more than doubled over the last two years and middle school signups for instrument instruction have increased in many schools. Passage of this bill would end all of this.

I urge you to contact your legislators to vote against House No. 111 and keep music instruction growing in Somerville.

Best regards,

Jen Capuano

Healey and Capuano School parent

Comments

[ifotismeni]

i'm not a somerville resident but i add my support to this letter. i heard about that bill on the radio... it's totally unrealistic. plus it would put unfair burden on the brass section!

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

I'm just imagining a band full of accordions, triangles, glockenspiels...

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

two halves of coconuts, banged together...

[mjperson.livejournal.com]

Coconuts? Are you mad? Do you have any idea what could grow in coconuts?

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Yeah but you would never put any part of one in your mouth.


...Oh wait.

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

limes!

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

And while that would be an interesting interpretation of a band..I'm also in support of the above letter. I played flute in elementary school and had my music program canceled in 4th grade due to funding. I was heartbroken.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I lucked out in suburbia, apparently. Our middle and high school bands back home are still going strong.

[rainbow-spork.livejournal.com]

But then you'd have the threat of avian flu from the African swallows that brought them over...

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

<3

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

Wow--that is ridiculous! How did something like this even get this far?

[bd2k.livejournal.com]

There's a dentist in medford who has founded a company which provides this service. He's roped in Rep Paul Donato to push the bill.

[elements.livejournal.com]

What's the dentist's name? I want to be sure never to patronize his office.

[bd2k.livejournal.com]

Lepore

[m00n.livejournal.com]

This is a joke, right?

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Also, are they secretly trying to kill the music program or something?

[ron_newman]

Is this an overreaction to H1N1 flu? Has anyone actually gotten H1N1 flu this way?

[bd2k.livejournal.com]

the bill has been in the works for several years, from what i can tell.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

In the event I haven't made it perfectly clear, I'm absolutely in support of this letter (that is, opposed to the bill)

[anyee.livejournal.com]

I told this plan to a friend of mine, a trombone player. She said, "So, will there be hazmat bags to collect whatever comes out of the spit valves?"

Sterilizing the inside of the instrument, as opposed to the mouthpiece, is rather stupid. You don't come into contact with the scarier parts of a saxophone unless you're licking the tubing.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

But what if Johnnie cleans out the spit valve, and it contains Jennie's spit? Ewwwww! He might actually touch it! And his spit has mixed with Jennie's! That's vulgar.

This is a stupid bill. If you're that paranoid about instruments, buy a few extra mouthpieces and let the kids use them all year, returning them at the end of the year for a big sterilization.

However, doesn't that sort of sterilization have the possibility of destroying things like Sax/Clarinet/Flute/etc pads? So that you'd have to replace all the pads on each hole every year?

[docorion.livejournal.com]

This is the most egregious piece of public health nonsense I've seen in a good long time.

No, seriously. I just finished a master's program in public health. How much time do you suspect we spent on the epidemic of band-instrument-transmitted disease during that program?

For those of you who guessed "None", give yourself the prize of your choice. This is a solution looking for a problem. And a dentist looking for a paycheck, it sounds like.

Does anyone know whether this bill has a chance in hell of passing?

[bd2k.livejournal.com]

I believe Donato (the bill's sponsor) still chairs the committee on steering and scheduling -- e.g., what gets voted on and when. I don't think he'd put it up for a vote without thinking he had his ducks lined up.

The dentist's name is Lorenzo Lepore... you can see his political contribution record here:

http://www.efs.cpf.state.ma.us

Search on his contributions from Medford. You'll notice that it includes multiple members of the commission who recommended this bill.

[docorion.livejournal.com]

And a disturbing number of other Lepores contributing from eerily similar addresses. Variously dental hygienists, lawyers with the same last name and address, one mental health coordinator for the Commonwealth...fascinating.

[rainbow-spork.livejournal.com]

Is this state-wide legislation, or only related to Somerville somehow? I live in Cambridge, but I still think it's a stupid bill, and I'm sure it would have the same effect on other school districts as well.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Gawd knows this is the only way teens in school swap spit. Not.

[daviscubed.livejournal.com]

I really thought either this was a hoax or the poster completely misread this bill. Nope - our government really is this crazy. And lo and behold, there's a company right here in Andover who's ready to do this for big bucks. Wonder what campaign funds they're donating to?

[dashford.livejournal.com]

To clarify, the bill is specifying that each instrument has to be sterilized before it is passed from one student renting it to another, not "prior to every use". The Globe article cited by the OP makes that clear.

And it seems that Medford High School has been doing this since the fall of 2006:
http://www1.whdh.com/features/articles/healthcast/BO28249/

[anyee.livejournal.com]

And yet...you're spending money on a "problem" that, to date, has caused 0 documented illnesses in not only the schools, but also in most music groups I've encountered. Wash the mouthpieces. That's the germ-ridden part. And then spend your 70K on something else.

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

Have they confused *surgical* instruments with *musical* instruments?

W.T.F.?