Letters to the Editor

I’m writing in reference to the decision that was made by members of our Spring Cove School District administration to exclude the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” from the Spring Concert performed at the Middle School on May 7, 2024.

As a parent, I am saddened by this decision as it directly affected my son who is a chorus member. The excluded song was his favorite song that they had learned for this concert and the one he looked forward most to performing.

As a person who values education, I am enraged by this instance of censorship. How do we expect children to learn things outside of their own experience if we continue to limit their experiences and opportunities for learning? Both the band and chorus printed program for the concert contained the Music Department Objective: “Music does not teach your children WHAT to think, it teaches them HOW to think.”

Shouldn’t students be provided with all kinds of histories and songs and cultures and languages and religions and be provided the chance to come to their own conclusion or opinion?

As an alumna of Central High School and the music program, I am devastated by the reality that the music program and teachers are still not well supported by the district, which has brought back some sad memories and negative emotions about things my friends and siblings and I experienced as chorus and band members 20+ years ago. That is a topic for another conversation as this current school administration is not at all responsible for those decisions, but in light of recent events, it still seems so relevant.

Although I grew up in the Cove and graduated from Central HS, my children were born in Hanover, PA and completed their first years of primary education in a school district much bigger than Spring Cove. We recently moved back to the area to be closer to both sides of our family and to raise our children in my family home which has been wonderful for us. We knew we were making some compromises by choosing to live in Spring Cove School District.

We left a district that offered an orchestra for all 3 levels of schooling–elementary, middle, and high school and performed multiple elementary music programs every spring. What happened to the days where elementary kids got together on a stage and sang songs for their families? I know many districts in the area still do this, but not ours. Our oldest son has been lucky enough to continue his orchestra studies privately and has very much enjoyed learning percussion under Mrs. Swackhamer and chorus under Mrs. Parker. Our youngest son is anxiously looking forward to having the opportunity to be part of an ensemble–an experience he would have already had in our previous school.

We also left a district that was much more diverse than this. I understand that you cannot control or even radically change the demographics of an area just by wishing for it to be that way. But for the very few people of color in this district, how does this decision provide representation? I only hope and pray that there are many less-vocal people living here who are empathetic and open-minded and I’m asking them to stand alongside the Music Department and persons of minority status and viewpoints and show the “squeaky wheels” in our community that we can make noise, too. We can do better. We need to do better.

Emily Mingle-Hershberger

Martinsburg, PA