Top Takeaways The West Contra Costa Unified School District is preparing to make significant cuts to music, arts, theater and dance. Richmond High School’s music program went from seven students to over 200. An anonymous donor purchased $100,000 worth of instruments for the school in 2016. When Andrew Wilke took over Richmond High School’s music program in 2014, there were seven participating students out of a school of more than 1,000. The music room, housed in a building built in 1953, had only a few creaky instruments, most of them decades old.“It was next to nothing,” Wilke recalls. “It was some keyboards and a lot of garbage.” Wilke, who grew up in the district, set out to rebuild the program by applying for grants and adding classes. In 2016, an anonymous donor purchased more than $100,000 worth of instruments for the school. Today, more than 200 students play an instrument — many for the first time — an unusual number for a high school music program that typically requires years of prior experience. The music program includes an orchestra, jazz band, marching band and wind ensemble. According to Wilke, it is the only Title 1 high school in Northern California — meaning it receives supplemental federal funding based on student need — to offer a program of this scope. In a district where a sizable number of students struggle with attendance and graduation, every student involved in the music program has earned a high school diploma, he said. “To pick…
