IPods Installed in Families Show That You Can’t Stop the Music
By Brooke C.
Music to some is a blessing, to others a curse, but to a school full of teenagers it’s an absolute necessity.
This is why, on February 11, 2010, students walked into their families and were ecstatic to find an iPod and speakers, a dream to people who hadn’t heard music in sometime.
It became apparent that, at The Family Foundation School, substances weren’t the only things that made lives unmanageable. Music did as well. The families had their own collection of CDs, some that were brought back from visits, and some made by students. Also, CDs were being shared, borrowed, and not returned. This led to complaints from students that one family could listen to a certain band and another family couldn’t. The administration wanted to be able to control the music so it was uniform in each family.
It was this underlying need to manage what happens at the school that led to the implementation of iPods. This process began with Family Two and Family Six. They were both given iPods to test how it would go over in the families. It worked well, so the administration made the decision that the school would convert to iPods. Once the decision was made, CDs were collected from all the families so that they could be added to the large database of music being loaded.
Dawn Possemato, Family Leader of Talbot House, said, “I’m glad everybody’s going to listen to the same thing, and we don’t need to police it anymore.” The iPods were met by an even more excited response from students. Nicole K. said, “It’s brought the family together because it’s created a lot of fun times like dancing in the family or singing. We all really appreciate having it back.”
There were many staff members who were involved in bringing the music back. Paul Geer is acting as the manager; Tom Kovaleski is assisting Geer and providing and managing a large portion of the music. Rita Argiros handled the administrative portion of the work; Shari Carroll assisted with the research and purchasing the equipment needed to run the iPods; and Ed Anderson provided the security and the locked glass boxes to protect the iPods.
The iPods can hold 2,000 songs and currently have over 600. This leaves 60% of the memory left for the students to fill. Once a month, “Music Request Forms” will be distributed to all of the houses where the family leaders will make them available to students. The forms have spaces to put three songs. Students just need to fill out the name of the song and the artist. Geer says, “We look up the lyrics, listen to it, and if it fits we put it on. If not, we talk to the student about our concerns.”
If everything goes according to plan, the students will have a large say in what becomes of the iPods. Geer’s dream involves students throughout the process; he said that he hopes in the future to have a committee of students that would help manage the music.
So now that music has arrived, the only problem that remains is how it’s going to be turned off.
Hancock Village Elections Set for March 18th
