Dear Mercer Island Band family,
We are asking for your support.
We are profoundly grateful that we live in a community that is utterly committed to providing a Band performing arts experience for our island children. We never take this for granted because we know how special this support is when comparing our school district to others across our region and nation. We are so thankful to the Mercer Island community for the years of support.
While we often ask for help with volunteering, chaperoning, applause, and fundraising over our school year, it is rare that we ask for your advocacy to ensure the program stays strong and available for every Mercer Island child, both now and in future years.
We are asking for that support right now.
Our Mercer Island School District is working on their school budgets for the 2022/2023 year where they are facing the need for staffing reductions because of an income shortfall. We are deeply concerned that those cuts will be absorbed by our district Band program.
We would love to have your support in a number of ways:
Sign the Petition (1 min): Please sign the petition that stresses the importance and value of our MISD Band program to our island children and share the link with others in your family.
Email our administrators: Please consider emailing one or more of our district administrators with a personal note describing the importance of Band in your children(s) lives and desire to support a thriving district Fine Arts program in general (email addresses listed below)
Administrators and MISD School Board email addresses: Donna.Colosky@mercerislandschools.org (Superintendent) Fred.Rundle@mercerislandschools.org (Deputy Superintendent) Jamie.Prescott@mercerislandschools.org (Director, Learning Services) Tyrell.Bergstrom@mercerislandschools.org (Director, Financial Services) Walter.Kelly@mercerislandschools.org (Principal, MIHS) Aaron.Miller@mercerislandschools.org (Principal, IMS) MaryJo.Budzuis@mercerislandschools.org (Principal, IMS) Weston.Lucas@mercerislandschools.org (Principal, IMS) Aimee.Batliner-Gillette@mercerislandschools.org (Principal, Northwood) David.Hoffman@mercerislandschools.org (Principal, Island Park) Heidi.Christensen@mercerislandschools.org (Principal, Lakeridge) Megan.Isakson@mercerislandschools.org (Principal, West Mercer) Board@mercerislandschools.org (Mercer Island School Board)
Short enrollment survey (1-3 min): Please take a short survey if you have a child(ren) who has stayed enrolled in the Mercer Island School District because of the band program or if you moved to the island because of the band program.
Share your own testimonial: Please consider sharing your own family testimonials as to why you or your child(ren) have found a place in Band.
Please join us at a Band community open MISBB Board meeting during the first week of January upon our return from winter break. We will share that day and time as we get closer to that date.
When we attend festivals, share concert spaces with other schools, talk with friends from other school districts, and travel the nation and the world, it becomes starkly apparent how different Mercer Island Band really is in terms of the quality, the delivery of instruction, the connection, the inclusion of everyone, and the sheer degree of excellence our children may access through our extraordinary program.
Please share your voice to ensure that MISD Band remains intact for this next year and for future generations of young musicians.
Thank you,
Mercer Island Schools Band Boosters
