president's message Lisa Vartanian
lvartanian[at]paramusschools.org Website: http://www.njmea.org
Virtual Hill Month, Eastern Division Meetings, and National Assembly 2021
Hello New Jersey Music Educators! Welcome to the 2021-2022 school year. As I write this message, summer is coming to an end, and the plans for inperson learning are beginning. During the summer months, I hope that you had a chance to refill your buckets with rest, relaxation, and mindfulness practices so that you are recharged and reenergized for the new school year ahead. As I reflect on the 2020-2021 school year, I am full of gratitude for the incredible work you, our music educators, accomplished. I am thankful to those teachers and leaders that led virtual professional development sessions. We all learned a great deal from those meetings and came away with best practices that helped navigate the many teaching scenarios we faced. You have all gone above and beyond to keep music education thriving during this time. Although virtual, our community of music educators worked closer than ever before to brainstorm, think 'out of the box,' and find the most creative ways to reach our students. In every case, you found a way to make it work- and work exceptionally well. The enormous efforts, creativity, and perseverance everyone demonstrated were genuinely extraordinary to see. As we begin our work for this new school year, we officially welcome our new Executive Director, William McDevitt, to the New Jersey Music Educators Association. Over the past few months, Bill has worked closely with our former director, Debbie Sfraga, to ensure a smooth transition. Once again, we thank Debbie for her years of dedicated service to the NJMEA, the Eastern Division, and NAFME and appreciate her willingness to be a continual resource to our team. TEMPO
During the spring and summer months, the NJMEA leadership team was busy attending state and national meetings. As part of NAFME’s Hill Month, we met with congress to share concerns and interests regarding music education, including the need for more education funding in the COVID relief package and support for the Reopen and Rebuild American's Schools Act. Additionally, in June, the leadership team of NJMEA attended the Eastern Division meetings, as well as the National Assembly sponsored by NAFME. The meetings successfully conveyed that music education is vital for all students in our state and nation. Summer NJMEA Conference: Recharging Our Digital Batteries Summer Conference Coordinators Casey Goryeb and Jodie Adessa prepared an outstanding virtual summer conference in August with state-level speakers, round table discussions, breakout sessions, and workshops. Thank you again, Casey and Jodie, for providing us with resources and tools to prepare us for the new school year! Professional Development As we head into the new year, we are excited to offer several professional development opportunities, both in-person and virtual. These professional development workshops will allow us to explore some best practices we learned along the way and how to take those best practices and reimagine and expand them. 2
OCTOBER 2021
