Limited choir access frustrates parents

MONTGOMERY – The parents of a Montgomery Intermediate School
student are frustrated that three-fourths of the children trying
out for the school’s choir program have been denied access –
including their son.

Of the nearly 400 MIS students trying out for the school’s choir
program, only 100 have been accepted into the extracurricular
activity. Matt Van Bergen said it’s poor planning and inappropriate
to deny that many kids.

“Everybody should have the opportunity to be involved in choir
if that’s what they want to do,” he said. “We’re encouraging kids
to get involved in activities and then pulling the rug out from
under them.”

Van Bergen said the school was well aware of the popularity of
the choir program from previous years and should have created
solutions that would allow every child to participate at some
level.

“They could have different choir groups or different levels of
choir,” he said. “If three-fourths of the kids are turned away,
that’s just wrong.”