Lancaster ISD chases away orchestra director to Grand Prairie

Theresa Dobbs, director of orchestras for the Lancaster Independent School District, is going to Grand Prairie ISD, where she will teach at two middle schools with the likelihood of moving up to the high school level when that position opens up.

Dobbs had reportedly been threatened with demotion to elementary-level teaching by LISD Director of Fine Arts James Browden. Her would-be high-school level replacement? Reportedly, a first-year teacher who does not yet have TEA certification.

Dobbs was hired as LISD’s first orchestra director in summer 2005 for the 2005-06 school year, teaching at the high-school level while overseeing elementary and junior-high teachers. (Photo by Today Newspapers/Steve Snyder.)
During her first year in Lancaster, Dobbs had this to say about teaching orchestra in public schools:

“Kids don’t think orchestra is cool. So my job is marketing and PR," she said.

But, there is progress at all levels from the start of the year. That includes informing students of musical scholarships and grants.

"The kids that are more involved are seeing the rewards and the potential," she said.

And, technology has changed music education for the better, too, Dobbs said.

Students can take master classes in their particular instruments on the Internet. They can pause, rewind and otherwise study in detail QuickTime videos.

"It enables us to deliver instruction directly to the home. It lets them gain ownership of their instruction," Dobbs said.

She also uses peer teaching to get the better students even more involved in their learning by helping students who are struggling more, or students at younger grades. Dobbs said this - older students working with younger ones - also adds cohesion on a year-to-year basis.

Dobbs, who has a master of music degree from Southern Methodist and experience in MIDI-based electronic music production as well as orchestra (primary instrument— cello). She has composed electronic as well as traditional orchestral music.

Musical influences for Dobbs, an accomplished guitarist as well as cellist include classical guitarist Andreas Segovia and modern guitarists Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Joe Satriani.

Knowing the background to the Lancaster situation pretty well, and knowing the scrutiny Texas Education Agency-appointed conservator James Damm will give to the LISD budget, it would not surprise me to see the orchestra program there go by the boards, sadly.

Beyond all this is the frustration of a highly parsimonious Lancaster ISD, which budgets orchestra and other specialty classes with a day-to-day classroom budget of “zero.”

Yes, Ms. Dobbs has to pay for spare orchestral strings or sheet music out of her own pocket.

She also paid for two student practice violins stolen at the theft-magnet Lancaster High School in the fall of 2006.