By Jolene FarleyThe West Central District, with ties to the Hills-Beaver Creek area, joins Luverne on the Best 100 Communities for Music Education in America. West Central includes the communities of Humboldt and Hartford, S.D. Pat Toben, daughter of Dale and Nyla Reker, Beaver Creek, is Head of the Fine Arts Department at the district and fifth-grade instrumental teacher. Also on the staff is former H-BC music teacher Terry Walter. Walter is sixth, seventh and eighth-grade band instructor in a job share with Toben.Toben said she filled out a survey she received on-line from the American Music Conference and several partner organizations in the fields of music and education. Toben heard West Central made the list on Monday, March 31. "It’s great to be recognized on a national level," she said. "It’s a huge honor for the community."West Central, with 1,172 students, was the only South Dakota school recognized. This is the fourth year the top musical communities list has been released, and the second year West Central was included. Toben attributes winning the honor, in part, to a sixth-grade guitar exploratory class. Each sixth-grade student learns to play guitar during a nine-week segment. The staff also devotes much time to individual lessons and certified music teachers are present in the school throughout the week. Two other teachers are on staff at West Central. Jennifer Willson teaches kindergarten through fifth-grade general music and sixth-grade vocal. Andrea Harstad teaches ninth- through 12th-grade instrumental music. The district will receive a certificate, indicating placement on the Top 100 Communities for Music Education in America.The information from the survey will be used to counter budget cuts that threaten music education. According to the American Music Conference, studies have shown music education is important to overall academic achievement, but up to 28 million American students currently do not receive adequate music education. AMC Director Rob Walker said a little funding goes a long way in the area of music education. "The results show that successful music programs are found in communities that balance measurable resources, such as budgets and buildings, with less tangible assets, such as the will to make quality music education a reality," Walker said. "The top schools for music education are to be found in urban communities and rural ones, in wealthy areas and not-so-wealthy ones, but the common thread is that they benefit from the support of parents, teachers, school decision-makers and community leaders who value music education highly."For more information, see www.amc-music.org.
