http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TheGrade/20411 When my band director was laid off (back in Michigan) it was one of the most traumatic experiences of my high school career. He had been such an inspiration to everyone - students and parents alike - building up our little rinky-dink music program into a competitive force. We begged and pleaded with the board to consider how much he meant to us but in the end, our fiery new director was gone. We still had band, but the old cranky director who took over the program seemed to struggle filling his shoes and I began to dread the class. The loss of our favorite teacher impacted so many of us very deeply. I wasn't here the last time California faced severe cut backs in education funding but I'm hearing next year could be worse than other "fiscal emergencies." So with districts chopping at least 10 percent from their budgets for 08-09, I'm wondering, what did your kids notice the last time there were teacher or program cuts?   When my band director was laid off (back in Michigan) it was one of the most traumatic experiences of my high school career. He had been such an inspiration to everyone - students and parents alike - building up our little rinky-dink music program into a competitive force. We begged and pleaded with the board to consider how much he meant to us but in the end, our fiery new director was gone. We still had band, but the old cranky director who took over the program seemed to struggle filling his shoes and I began to dread the class. The loss of our favorite teacher impacted so many of us very deeply. I wasn't here the last time California faced severe cut backs in education funding but I'm hearing next year could be worse than other "fiscal emergencies." So with districts chopping at least 10 percent from their budgets for 08-09, I'm wondering, what did your kids notice the last time there were teacher or program cuts?   en-us