Families speak out on proposed changes to Regina Public School's band program
Parents are speaking out on proposed changes to the Regina Public School division's elementary band program, stating it will negatively impact the quality of music education students receive.
Led by band teachers, the current co-curricular instrumental education program provides two hours per week of band class to students from Grade 6 to 12, in addition to workshops and festivals outside of regular school hours
However, with plans to 'restructure' the program under the division's 2025-26 budget, parents are worried the value of the program will decline.
'Currently [students] are taught by 14 very talented and engaged music program teachers,' said Dean Zurburg, parent and president of Campbell Area Music Parents Association (CAMPA).
'With these cuts, they are talking about removing one third of those resources and reallocating them to something that is not band. [This is] something that we feel would be very detrimental to the program itself.'
Since elementary school, Rachel Zurburg's passion for music education has grown.
'It's a place to relax, be my most authentic self, and just have a good time,' she shared.
Rachel Zurburg
Grade 11 student Rachel Zurburg has been part of Regina Public Schools band program for six years. (Sierra D'Souza Butts / CTV News)
Starting with the French Horn back in Grade 6 then moving onto percussion, Zurburg said her interest in music was first discovered through her school's band program.
'You're learning all these important things in math and English, but you really learn the emotional parts and your emotional capabilities when you are in an art form, whether that be visual art or that be a physical art, like theatre, band or choir,' she said.
With 1,600 students currently participating in the division's program, the Saskatchewan Band Association said the program has provided an opportunity for students from all demographics.
'One of the big goals of the Saskatchewan Band Association is to ensure the band is accessible to all and certainly having programs in schools really increases that accessibility for families all around the province,' said CEO Suzanne Gorman.
'Certainly, there's financial barriers, rental of instruments, finding instructors, that sort of thing if we didn't have it in schools, but I think we also need to look at the equity and the accessibility of the program when it's in a school.'
In a statement to CTV News, Regina Public Schools' said the arts, including band, is important to families within the division but, 'is not integral to the Ministry's education strategy.'
'In addition, this is a unique budget year. Following the new collective bargaining agreement between the Provincial government and the STF, significant funding has shifted to address classroom complexity,' read the statement.
'Zero funding is provided by the provincial government for elementary band programs, so funding that program at previous levels could come at the expense other programs that support Regina Public Schools' 27,000 students.'
The division added there will be no layoffs as a result of restructuring the elementary band program. Final plans to approve the budget by the Board of Education are set for June 24.
In the meantime, parents like Dean are encouraging families to share their stories on the program has impacted students positively.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Post
39 minutes ago
- National Post
Joel Kotkin: The case for defanging Ottawa
When globalism was hot, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau tried to be hotter by deciding that Canada has 'no core identity, no mainstream,' and suggesting Canada had become a 'post-national state.' Now that nationalism is back in vogue, Prime Minister Mark Carney, unwilling or unable to counter U.S. President Donald Trump's taunts and tariff barrage, has become an odd recipient of Canada's quest for a U.S.-like national identity. Even as he rails against America's temperamental chief executive, he has shown little interest in curbing his country's own protectionist policies. Article content Article content But Canadians, indulging in a rare burst of nationalist authoritarianism, may be jumping on the wrong train. Even as people reject globalism, the 'national state' is also losing its appeal — not only in the United States, but throughout Europe and the United Kingdom, as well. Some of this, on the left at least, reflects anti-western ideology, epitomized by DEI and the mandatory acknowledgement of First Nations land rights, which are now deeply entrenched in the education systems of the U.S., Canada and Europe. Article content Article content Support for a highly centralized state also represents a rejection of Canadian and American attempts to balance national and regional concerns. As enormous countries, we each have populations that have predominately different origins and exist in often wildly different economies. A suburbanite at the edge of the Golden Horseshoe or in the endlessly expanding sprawl north of Dallas has very different ideas and priorities, whether in terms of schools or support for terrorism, than an arts or non-profit worker in central Toronto or Manhattan. Article content The differences get greater when you look across the continental expanse. Alberta and the Prairie provinces depend on raw material production, which is not exactly in line with Carney's ultra-green vision, as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has rightly pointed out. British Columbia inhales new urbanist dogma and seeks to reduce fossil fuels, and Ontario remains divided between its industrial base and its greener-than-thou urban elites. Like them, Carney seems more focused on things other than finding ways for Canada's various communities to thrive. Article content Article content But more power to the provinces or the states does not really go far enough. For most things, outside of national defence and foreign relations, the real goal should be to bring decision-making down to as local a level as possible. This notion is popular among Canadians, most of whom wish to see decisions made closer to home. Article content This notion is also embraced in the U.S., notes Gallup. Big companies, banks and media receive low marks from the public, but small business continues to enjoy widespread support across party lines. Millennials, largely liberal on issues such as immigration and gay marriage, are as one commentator suggests, more 'socially conscious,' but they do not necessarily favour the top-down structures embraced by earlier generations; many prefer small units to larger ones.
National Post
39 minutes ago
- National Post
Jamie Sarkonak: DEI gardening — the new Liberal priority for agriculture
Article content On its face, that list doesn't make sense: race alone doesn't render a person 'at risk,' nor does speaking French in non-Quebec Canada, nor does living outside a city. Typically, in English, that term is used to describe homeless and low-income people. Article content The agriculture department's explanation isn't reflected in the actual record, either. The applicant guide for the Local Food Infrastructure Fund presents a closed list of 'equity-seeking groups' that a potential grant recipient can claim to help: Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, women, youth, 2SLGBTQI+, 'Not applicable' and 'Decline to identify.' The government (which actually prefers the term 'equity-denied group' over 'equity-deserving group) limits the scope of the definition to race, gender, sexuality, religion and disability. Article content What's certain is that the scope of this grant program is unclear, and that public-facing documents are giving potential applicants the impression that food programs serving, say, low-income, country-dwelling white seniors of Saskatchewan aren't deserving of government support. Neither would be a replacement freezer for a food bank serving the poor — regardless of race — in small-town Atlantic Canada. A curious choice for the minister of agriculture, Prince Edward Islander Heath MacDonald. Article content Meanwhile, a free set of raised beds for a community garden in an upper- to middle-class, predominantly non-white neighbourhood of Toronto would appear to meet the program's stated criteria, even though such endeavours are largely recreational. Indeed, the same can be said for low-income communities. Neighbourhood gardens can't achieve the economies of scale found in industrial farming or the year-round stability of the grocery store, which is why a local Loblaws or Metro does a lot more for food security than a few raised beds. Article content This is just one grant, but it's emblematic of the whole federal government's approach to public service. It's not enough to support food programs for the poor; the feds must also support the gardening hobbies across the cultural mosaic. Similarly, it's not enough to hire deserving students as youth employment hits 20-year lows; the feds must select their new hires on the basis of identity. It's not enough that Supreme Court justices are highly competent in the law — instead, they must be half-decent at their craft, bilingual and be the first person with their combination of diversity characteristics to join the court. Article content To the feds, managing a diverse population doesn't just mean ensuring that discrimination doesn't happen — it means actively discriminating to redistribute the goods of society. Even something as essential as food isn't immune. Article content
Globe and Mail
39 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Engineering professor Eric Burnett was demanding and supportive both at home and in class
Eric Frederick Peter Burnett: Dad. Engineer. Opera lover. Teacher. Born Jan. 7, 1937, in Roodepoort, South Africa; died March 13, 2025, in Richmond, B.C., of dementia, aged 88. Eric Burnett could never quite believe he'd reached the age of 88, but he liked that he had as many years as there are keys on a piano. He was born to Eileen and Peter Burnett, the eldest of three boys. The family lived on an acreage on the outskirts of Bulawayo (then Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe), a rail hub from which Peter worked as a train conductor. Eric and his brothers, Basil and Hylton, had a series of pets, including fox terriers and duikers, small antelopes whose babies they'd find abandoned in the bush. At 11, Eric was sent away to Grey High School – a three-day journey by train. Boarding school meant sudden independence. Eric developed a hard-nosed self-sufficiency, taking up boxing (permanently deviating his septum) and for the first time getting high marks. His teachers broadened his horizons, he said, introducing him to literature and art, and sparking an interest in travel and higher education. He was the first in his family to attend university, taking the gold medal in civil engineering with his BSc at the University of Cape Town. A full-ride Shell scholarship enabled his MSc (engineering) and Diploma of Imperial College, and he eventually earned his PhD from the University of London. While there, friends introduced him to Angela Towert, a vivacious, whip-smart librarian who'd grown up in South Africa. In 1964 he moved to Canada for a teaching post at the University of Waterloo, and soon wrote to invite Angela to join him on his transatlantic adventure. In February, 1965, they were married in Toronto. On their wedding day, with his lifelong talent for understatement, he told his bride, 'You look quite nice.' Their marriage of 58 years survived – and by many measures thrived – because his praise was as sincere as it was precious. Eric's humour was mostly wry, and he shared his love of British comedy with his children, Alastair and Gillian. He laughed hardest and longest at his son's jokes, especially when they were at his own expense. And they often were. An avid photographer, Eric's pictures of buildings outnumbered those of family. His kids would jokingly point and yell, 'Salt damage!' to get his attention. As a parent, he was both supportive and demanding. He celebrated his children's successes and left no doubt of their failures. His talent for math skipped a generation, and Gillian would sometimes find a handwritten note on her report cards: 'Inadequate.' He brought the same high standards to his work. Over his distinguished 25-year career teaching civil engineering at Waterloo, students would occasionally call him at home to request extensions. If his children answered, they'd advise them not to ask. Eric was proud of his industry partnerships and advocated strongly for women in his male-dominated profession. He was the founder and director of the Building Engineering Group until 1996 and a senior consultant and technical director with Trow Consulting Engineers Ltd. In his career's second act, the couple moved to the U.S., where Eric held the Hankin Chair in Residential Construction at Penn State from 1996 to 2005 and was director for the Pennsylvania Housing Research/Resource Center. Upon retirement, his team threw a party featuring a life-size cardboard cut-out of him asleep at his desk. His humility and sense of humour pervaded everything he did. In retirement, they moved to Richmond, B.C., where Eric co-authored an engineering textbook and worked as a consultant at RDH Building Sciences. At 69, a stroke forced him to spend more time on his many hobbies. He was a serious collector of stamps (specializing in southern Africa), wooden boxes and hippo figurines. He surrounded himself with Folio Society hardcover classics, paperback murder mysteries and classical music. You could tell he was home by the strains of Puccini wafting through his office door. He adored his grandkids, Jasper and Alice, whose childhoods he helped shape. Eric's world got much smaller when Angela died in 2023. While he wasn't a naturally demonstrative man, his last chapter was distinguished by an easy and moving affection for those he loved. His continued laughter at Alastair's jokes – and an occasional zinger of his own – was a gift right up until a few days before his death. Gillian Burnett is Eric Burnett's daughter. To submit a Lives Lived: lives@ Lives Lived celebrates the everyday, extraordinary, unheralded lives of Canadians who have recently passed. To learn how to share the story of a family member or friend, go online to
