Over the past three decades, the Eastern High School Choir has been one the D.C. public school system's most renowned cultural institutions. Can it continue to produce its brilliant sound?
Author Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett, Eastern High School Choir artistic director and music director Patrick Lundy were online Monday, June 14 at 1 p.m. ET to field questions and comments about the article in Sunday's Washington Post Magazine.
Currie is a frequent contributor to The Washington Post Magazine.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
________________________________________________
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Welcome. Tyler Currie here. I'm here with Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy of the Eastern High School Choir to answer your questions about this weekend's story about the choir. Let's begin...
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
I am Eastern's French teacher. I introduced myself to you briefly at the assembly you write about, where the prinicipal tried talking to students about the fires that were set. You did an excellent job with your story, painting a very full, accurate, of the school and its choir. Unfortunately, some of the hopefulness you heard from teachers at the beginning of the year -- that the new administration would fix things -- has by now (June) disappeared. One of the photos accompanying your story, in the magazine, shows some of the physical disrepair that greets students and teachers. I would like to point your readers to additional photos of the horrible state of facilities at the school: see http://www.howitis.org/EasternHigh.pdf . Again, thank you for your article.
- Marc
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Tyler: Thanks, Marc. I'll let your comments speak for themselves.
_______________________
Alexandria, Va.:
In the process of making the Performing Arts school/curriculum a reality, would you be willing to accept volunteer help from other music teachers? Or would the teachers have to be already employed by DC Public Schools?
I wish you much luck...what a wonderful program and what magnificient things you have done from some of these students!
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Joyce: Please contact our managing director, Heather Infantry, at heather@easternhschoir.org. Yes, we are always looking for volunteers!
_______________________
Washington, DC:
Dear Mr. Currie, Ms. Garrett, and Mr. Lundy -
Thank you so much for this very eye-opening and interesting article. It has been both horrifying and inspiring to read of the challenges you and your students face. I am not sure to which of you I should direct this question, so I direct it to all 3 of you: I was struck by the fact that the young woman in the choir, who was profiled for the article, seemed to have received no help or guidance as to what classes to take to fulfill her desire of getting into an engineering program. I realize it's not your job to do this kind of advising, but do you feel that this is an isolated case, or is this lack of career preparation advice a problem which affects your more of your students' ambitions? Some of the ambivalent teachers described in the article made me wonder if there are any advisors to help students, and if they are as ambivalent as some of your fellow teachers (or are they simply overworked). Thank you.
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Tyler: I spoke at length with one guidance counselor at eastern, one of only three. She was telling me that most of her time is taken with administrative tasks, very little of her time is spent actually counseling. So yes much of the problem has to do with not having the resources to direct students toward careers they might be interested in.
Joyce: We have leadership conferences for students during the year. We try to give them information about how to match their talents with their aspirations.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.: Hello. Does any of the other 10 DC HS have choirs too?
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Joyce: Most of the high schools have choirs.
Tyler: Loretta, who was profiled in the story, attended H.D. Woodson and was a member of the choir there. She transferred to Eastern because of its choir.
_______________________
Potomac, Md.:
I am a parent at The Bullis School and would like to invite the choir to perform at our school. I have heard the group perform at Landon and was inspired! Who do I contact and at what phone number?
Thank you,
Harriet
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Joyce: Visit our webpage at www.easternhschoir.org. There's contact information there. Ask to speak with Heather Infantry, our managing director.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.: Thanks so much for your piece on Eastern High School Choir. I congratulate Ms. Garrett and Mr. Lundy for their vision, hard work and perseverance.
Despite the interesting focus of the article on the choir, I was left very discouraged by what was going on in the background. My children all attend a DCPS school and I know the burden all DC public school students operate under given the poor resources offered by their school system. However, in our school the parents do their utmost (almost too much) to compensate for what the school lacks. I was surprised to see the culture of apathy, or even worse, hostility, expressed by students and parents alike toward their school and the idea of being educated. I am hard pressed to see where any economic or educational progress is likely to come from given Washington's black community's apparent pathology of not caring.
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Tyler: I think the great point that Joyce and Patrick have proven is that when expectations are high, students perform.
_______________________
Kansas City, Mo.:
Hey Dr. Garrett! Hey Mr. Lundy! It's E. Scott. I was reading the article, and I think what current choir members and Eastern students in general could use is mentors who have been in their shoes. Mentors who went to inner city schools, and faced the challenges that they face on a regular basis, and overcame them. It's one thing to hear something from a teacher, but it's another to hear it from a 23-year-old who's been there. Have you considered implementing that type of program?
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Joyce: Glad to hear from you Eugene. We would love for you to come to speak with the students and be a mentor yourself. Let us know when you're home for a visit. And please encourage the other alums to come back for a visit, as mentors. The best mentors are those who don't just do a half hour talk, but people have a consistent presence.
Patrick: Thanks for inspiring your brother to be in the choir and also mentoring--he's been back twice.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
Hello! I found your article to be both inspirational and terribly, terribly depressing on the state of DC schools.
I retired two years ago from teaching at a public high school reputed to be among the best in the nation. Whiole we have a bit of the negatives you discussed, the difference is night and day.
I still watch It's Academic on weekends, and sometimes am reduced almost to tears over the showing by DC high schools. In recent weeks, among othe4r wrong answers, they failed to identify the Mediterranean Sea, the continent that covers the South Pole, Ronald Reagan's vice president, the current Pope, the chemical symbol for oxygen (O), and the meanings of "fluctuate" and "opaque" (these last were multiple choixce questions).
Is there any sort of organized program that would let me help out at these schools? If I were to call Principal Smith and offer to put in serious time at Eastern, do you think he would take me up on my offer?
Don't other people feel this way? Or am I just being naive to think I might make a difference? BTW, I taught math, science and French.
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Joyce and Patrick: We need tutors badly! We're beginning our tutoring program next fall.
Tyler: The choir's staff, throughout the year, tracked students' academic performance. This was one of the ways in which the Choir isn't just about singing.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
The article mentions the possible launch of a Performing Arts Academy, open to the city. Is this a result of the shrinking size of the choir or lack of funding?
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Heather Infantry, Managing Director of EHS Choir: I think we want to take the choir's philosophy and integrate it into the wider curriculum, make it available to students throughout the school. Funding has been tough recently because we, a non-profit, are a single-site organization. Most funders like to target community-based organizations.
Tyler: This is one of the reasons why Joyce, as mentioned in the article, had been talking about expanding the choir to a city-wide program.
_______________________
Lima, Ohio:
To Joyce Garrett --Heard your magnificent choir perform several years ago at some government function via TV. Was further amazed when I heard your name because I am Joyce Garrett, too! Am an African American retired Spanish teacher. Still teaching part time at preschool now and music (in Spanish)
plays big part of program.
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Joyce: Hello Joyce, great name, great hearing from you. Tell more people about the choir.
_______________________
Washington, DC:
I read with some dismay the story yesterday. My son a 2003 graduate was shown in the story and has been honored with scholarship assistance from Eastern Choral Society and my older son, a 1999 grad also participated in the choir. I respect the work of Dr Garrett for over 30 years and still have hopes for a light at the end of the tunnel for Eastern and its famous choir. The aspirations of the founder are clear to many of the parents of the choir members. I continue to support this choir in many ways and the Eastern Choral Society even with no children at Eastern. I am truly disgusted with the administrative oversight of DCPS but am happy that I know several students who have graduated from the Eastern you speak of, Mr. Tyler, and these former students are doing quite well academically, professionally and in the music world. Yes something good came out of SouthEast DC. God be with you... Please don't give up, Patrick and Joyce.......
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Tyler: Yes, you should be disgusted. Unfortunatly, I think only when enough parents feel as you do, and demand that all their teachers are of the same caliber as Joyce and Patrick, will DCPS shine.
Patrick: I know who you are. Thanks for being a model parent, one of the few I've met. Thanks for your continuing efforts and support for our program.
Joyce: I'm very proud of your sons' achievments. You really stuck with them throughout their school years and it made a big difference.
_______________________
Washington, DC :
Hello Ms. Garrett, Mr. Lundy, and Mr. Currie. As a alumnus of Eastern High School and its Choir I was sadden by the lack of pride students take in the school. However, I was enlightened and happy to read that some students are still trying to achieve success.
Over the years there have been plenty of discussions/debates over the choir versus other obilgations(work, family, academics, etc.) I believe administrators and students should find a common ground and a balance. Although the choir provides a solid foundation for many of its members I believe we also have to think about the "big picture". Once you graduate from high school you need some skills and other training in order to compete with your peers for internships and other job opportunities in the future.
In closing, I would like to add that I take pride in being a graduate of Eastern Senior High School and the Eastern HS Choir so I was disturbed when I read that the institution that Dr. Joyce Garrett worked so hard to build within the doors of Eastern maybe lost.
Sincerely,
C Taylor '97
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Tyler: Thanks for writing. I don't think that the work done in the choir is at all irrelevant to life after high school. These kids put in LOTS of time--being able to commit to something over the long haul, that's absolutely part of the "big picture," as you say.
Joyce: Remember we also teach a lot of values that are important in life and in future jobs. We always talk to them about dependability, high achievement, good work ethics, teamwork, accountability. These values are needed everywhere.
Heather Infantry, managing director: Often Patrick will tell the students, before they step on stage, that this is similar to a job interview. They've got to show poise. He's always likening experiences in the choir to the "real world."
_______________________
Charlottesville, Va.:
Thanks for a thought-provoking article. As
a former lawyer who recently took up
teaching 7th grade English, I'm familiar
with the attitude and discipline problems
you describe at Eastern. Disrespectful,
aimless students and out-of-control
schools that cannot educate go
hand-in-hand, and the problem is
growing in mostly -middle-class schools
as well. The question is: what can we
as a society do? Garrett and Lundy are
giving their all, as so many teachers do.
After four years in the public ed. system, I
am starting to believe that parents must
take on more responsibility. Do you
agree or do you believe there are
solutions we educators are missing?
Are you considering a follow-up article to
address these issues?
By the way, I doubt I'm the only one who
pondered the connection between your
article and Jeanne Marie Laskas' column
on the current trend in birthday
"extravaganzas" -- is it only a coincidence
that both spoiling parental behaviors and
bratty student behavior are on the rise?
Thank you -- CC,
Albemarle County Schools
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Tyler: No follow up article planned at the moment. Although Joyce just turned to me and asked what questions I still had about the choir. It will be interesting to see if the school's leadership settles down.
What can we do as a society? That's tough. I don't think anything will change until there are real consequences for the status quo. Right now in the District, there is no political cost to keeping the schools as they are.
Patrick: Parents. We need more proactive parents, who won't be intimidated going to the school board to demand better teaching.
Tyler: I spoke with one parent who didn't seem to be aware that her child was sitting through classes where, literally, nothing was being taught.
Joyce: I think accountability is the answer. But you also have to have teachers with a passion, who want to be with students. I think the administrators have to act in supervisory roles. They're not doing that now.
_______________________
Alexandria, Va.:
I thought the most depressing thing in your article was the young lady in the choir who stopped wearing her glasses to school because some of her peers said they made her look too "studious." (Although I am highly skeptical that they actually used that term, rather than something a lot more offensive.) I am sorry that she didn't have the courage to ignore them and the wisdom to recognize how foolish they are. Don't you agree that until a change of attitude is achieved so that black scholars can study without being harassed by their classmates, all the prize-winning choirs in the world won't make any difference to the educational problems the black community faces?
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Patrick: I totally agree. Unfortunately, this is not a new issue in our culture.
Joyce: Somehow achieving academic success means "acting white." Where did that ridiculous idea come from?
Patrick: I remember as a teenager in high school, speaking correct english was frowned upon.
_______________________
Re: music's real world application::
As a professional musician/actor who majored in music in college, I can tell those kids that music will nourish them their entire life. I still pop in tapes of my high school and college choirs, and can recall the experiences I had learning and performing those repertoires.
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Tyler: Thank you for sharing.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
re: the girl with really good grades who wanted to attend MIT's summer program. I was amazed that there seemed to be no one around to advise her on the reality of this goal. The kids going to MIT aren't in 11th grade taking Algebra II. Which leads me to another question - other than Wilson, do the kids in DCPS high schools have access to the high level math and science classes necessary to major in something like engineering?
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Tyler: It's not mentioned in the story, but the only reason that Loretta found out about the MIT program was through the Choir, but you're right: it was never likely that she'd get into the program. She was aware of this.
Patrick: Unfortunately the counselors' supervision is such that they don't suggest the kinds of courses that are necessary to fulfill an ambition like Loretta's.
Tyler: They do have AP classes at Eastern--would they do the trick of getting a kid into MIT? I don't know.
_______________________
Washington, DC:
Good Afternoon -
Hello Mrs. Garrett. My name at the time was D. Gaskins and I was one of Ms. Dodd's dancers and performed in many of our wonderful plays (i.e., I Gotta Keep Movin') and I was a cheerleader. I am a 1978 graduate of Eastern and was appalled at the article to say the least. Mrs. Garrett you were right about the way Eastern was during that time when we won every city title and had an overflow of students. Unfortunately, this article took me back to the demeaning article that appeared in 1978, despite the fact that we had wonderful teachers who cared about the students. My concern is that Mr. Currie made many broad statements, as if ALL the students at Eastern are "under" everything. I beg to differ. I have a nephew who graduated this year with a 3.7 GPA and will be attending VCU in the fall. Just for the record, he was accepted into every college that he applied to. We are very, very proud of him, and I take offese that you Mr. Currie wrote with the slant that these kids are not prepared and will not succeed in college or life. My nephew has always been a bright student, and despite what was going on around him at Eastern, he made it through. I have no doubt in my mind that he would have made it through any school, public or private. Why down these kids when the article should have been on the teachers who are charged with teaching them. These kids are faced with so much more than we were ever faced with, and many of them have been triumphant. All of them are not from single parent homes or underpriviledged areas. Instead of making these kids feel less than, how about making the teachers responsible, and celebrating their accomplishments. Yes, you do have to be more than a teacher to many of these kids today, but if a true love and dedication for the kids are in the teachers' heart, then what has happened at Eastern and so many of the other DC public schools, would not. Write an article on the trifling teachers. You mentioned the so-called teacher who was watching a DVD..believe me, he's not the only one who's main concern at this point is to collect a paycheck. How many of these teachers have intrusted their kids' education to the DC public school system. I am so tired of the Washington Post and its one-sided journalism. Eastern's varisity basebal team won the East Division this past season, and there was not one article written. But low and behold, when they were beaten by Wilson in the championship, a huge article appeared. My question is, why does the Post have a High School sports section and only report on the suburban schools, but when a DC public school athlete is killed, then it's splattered on the front page? Where were the articles when this kid was breaking records and leading his team to victory? Success in the building of Eastern High School does hold up in the broader world. I am a Rutgers University graduate and working on my Master's Degree, and enjoy a very successful career. I have no doubt in my mind that my nephew, along with many of his classmates will do the same. Stop downing our kids! The fault lies in the adults. Somebody is letting our kids down Mr. Currie and I think you wrote about the wrong "somebody". Yes the school is old and needs work. Yes there are trouble makers in the school, what school doesn't have them?Yes, the list can go on and on. Stop writing about the problem and try writing about the solution!
Lastly, you have the same thing going on in some of the suburban schools (i.e., gangs, drug dealing, etc.). Feature one of those schools next time. Never once in your article did you extend a plea to the community to help in this very sad and tragic situation. One that will continue to repeat itself if folks like yourself and the powers that be continue to allow them to do so. Thank you
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Tyler: Thank you for writing. "Stop writing about the problem and try writing about the solution!" I think that I did suggest, at least in part, a solution, that is the kind of teaching that Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy have been showing for more than thirty years. I did write about a succesful student, in fact she was the center piece of the story. Also, let's not make excuses for the kids who cause mischief.
_______________________
Washington, D.C. :
As a graduate of Eastern, and an alumnus of the choir, reading the article gave me an alarming and heartwrenching reality of the downward spiral that Eastern has taken. The school has done what seems like a complete metamorphasis in the three years since my own graduation. Since Mrs. Garrett's founding, the choir has always been a magnet and prized possession at Eastern. For well over ten years now the choir has also made students' dreams of college come true. Including my very own. My dreams of college were nurtured by the choir through college tours and leadership seminars at Sallie Mae and the Martin Luther King Library and Mrs. Garrett and Mr. Lundy along with the Choral Society made them come true. But, as an alumnus and scholarship awardee ($4,000) I feel in some way responsible. If I can be of any assistance, Mrs. Garrett, Mr. Lundy, please let me know. - E. Moody
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Patrick: Good hearing from you. Please come again and speak to the choir. That's how you can help.
Joyce: Keep up your studies. I'm very proud of you. Stay in touch. Send your email address to Heather Infrantry: heather@easternhschoir.org.
_______________________
Silver Spring, Md. (Sligo Creek):
While the problems with Eastern High will not likely be solved by September, what are some of the ways that we can support the Easten Choral Society to make the services you provide to the students more effective and supplementary? What kind of support do you need?
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Joyce: We need money to support our programs, both present and future. Money to bring in trained professionals. We need corportate donors, foundation funding.
_______________________
Tyler Currie, Joyce Garrett and Patrick Lundy: Tyler: Thanks to everyone who wrote in. And a special thanks to Joyce Garrett, Patrick Lundy, and the students of the Eastern High School Choir for sharing their stories.
_______________________
