Letter From A Current Parent

One Parent Wrote to the Grosse Pointe News Editor, on August 15, 2007:

Thank you to the Grosse Pointe News for presenting a more balanced picture of the incident involving Grosse Pointe South choir director Ellen Bowen, "What to do about 'Ellen,'" Aug. 2 Grosse Pointe News.

It is nice to finally hear some of the facts regarding the incident. It was good to read in your column that the young woman in this case bears responsibility for the situation as well. That she does.

As far as Ellen Bowen, I just want the community to know, that what Ellen does at South, is a job that few teachers or music instructors could do. She involves as many students at South in the choir as several athletic teams put together. The number of students that want to participate in the choir, and the many parents that enthusiastically support her programs are a testament to that.

As a parent of two teenagers in the choirs, I have no reservations about my children working with Ms. Bowen. In fact, she has inspired my teenagers to want to learn more and to love all kinds of music. Every activity she is involved with, has been highly organized, and I have never feared for the safety of my children.

As a former vocal performance/vocal music education major, I know that what Ellen does at South is unique. Ellen gets the kids excited about the singing and dancing side of vocal music, and along the way introduces them to some of the finest classical literature.

My children have had the opportunity to sing major works with chamber orchestra and beautiful choral literature.

Attending the Solo and Ensemble festivals is an eye opener. When many of the schools can barely get 12 students in an advanced choir, and only one or two boys on tenor and bass, Ellen has large groups of mixed choirs and young men.

Listening to my son sing with the "Men of Pointe Singers" at one of the solo and ensemble competitions, these young men were easily as good as the internationally known Wayne State University Men's Glee Club from my college days at Wayne State University.

Ellen had 60-plus singers attending solo and ensemble as soloists — a number unheard of at any high school. The majority of those soloists — I am proud to say, my daughter included — received first division ratings.

Both of my teenagers study voice with excellent voice teachers, brought in by Ellen Bowen.

People need to realize that Ellen has made choir a "cool" and coveted place to be at South. When you sit and watch the musical, and the two male leads are from the football team and one of our champion swimmers, you realize that she has accomplished what few can do.

Both of my children participate in athletics as well, and were able to because Ellen accommodated their schedule.

I feel blessed to have her at South, my children love choir and spend a great deal of time in an environment where they are demanded many things, but have grown tremendously as musicians and as people in the process. They are surrounded by some of the brightest and nicest teenagers that I have ever met, providing them with a wonderful peer group.

I have been privileged to meet some of the most lovely parents in our community through the choir boosters at South. Never have I seen more people work harder to help a program succeed.

I do not for one moment think that all of these students and parents would stay involved if Ellen Bowen weren't worth it.

As a person with many years of experience with vocal music, as a singer, choreographer and soloist myself, let me briefly explain what Ellen is able to do. She is able to give our South students a university and even professional level experience in music, even though she has to teach students that are all over the map in abilities.

When our elementary students only have music 45 minutes every four days, it isn't enough to prepare them. We live in a time, where fewer and fewer families are familiar with good classical music, and less and less children are really exposed to good music.

Many people go into music education only to leave the profession because of the few good jobs that are out there, and of the districts that hire them, there is no budget or support for the arts.

Music teachers are demanded to do things and put up with situations that most academic teachers would never stand for. Imagine that she is a hockey coach.

Imagine that she has to train a team of hockey players to compete at an elite level.

Imagine that when the season starts, 25 percent of her players have played competitive travel hockey. Another 25 percent have played some house games for fun, so at least they are familiar with the sport. Twenty-five percent of the players only know how to skate, but have never played hockey.

And finally, 25 percent of the players are just learning how to stay upright on their skates, never mind holding a stick in their hand.

Then imagine that she has to keep the advanced players interested, develop the marginal players and meanwhile teach the basics to all the rest. Then she has to get them all to work together, to treat each other as teammates, without the advanced players treating the bench warmers badly.

And she has to do this with a fraction of the budget of most other hockey teams, and has to involve the parents to raise all the money for uniforms and ice time, because hockey doesn't get the same priority in the budget as many other activities.

At the same time, not one player sits on the bench, every single one gets playing time, though not all will be able to play on varsity (Pointe Singers). And this coach manages to develop all these players into award winning players, and has many that go on to play hockey in college and the NHL.

That coach is Ellen Bowen. That is what she does. That is why she has to stay. We need her here. Our kids want her here.

I am only one parent of many at South that will be devastated, along with my teenagers if she isn't with us at South this fall.

Lisa Papas
City of Grosse Pointe
August 15, 2007