Fort Myers, FL Hotel Manager Trys To Help Keep Music and Arts in the Schools

Hotel manager in Lee County offers to fly, lodge potential arts savior

SAM COOK • SCOOK@NEWS-PRESS.COM • APRIL 8, 2009

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• Blog: Artfest Fort Myers puts up $500 challenge to help save jobs of 80 art, music teachers

If you don't believe art and music are important to folks in the Lee County School District, check out Alan Jarrett's response to an alternate plan to cutting 80 art and music teachers by the superintendent and his board.

"I find (John) Benham's offer intriguing and I am throwing in this offer from Cooper Hotels of Lee County,'' writes Jarrett, the company's regional director of operations and a county resident since 2000.

"We will pay $500 for Mr. Benham's plane ticket, offer him complimentary accommodations at one of our hotels and provide function space for interviews and town hall meetings with the parents and teachers of Lee County.''

That's a superb start.

Superintendent James Browder's solution is to eliminate teachers from traditional public elementary schools if the district's 2009-10 budget comes up $50 million short.

Jarrett isn't shy about what motivates him.

He says Cooper Hotels, which owns and operates the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Homewood Suites by Hilton Hotel at Bell Tower Shops, has more than 200 employees raising families in Lee's school district.

"Our business model is not based upon destination locations, cold winters, warm beaches and six weeks of baseball,'' Jarrett writes. "That is a first-class ticket to bankruptcy. Ours is simple. Tight-knit caring communities, strong schools and a thriving college. This has made our hotels profitable for over 20 years. So there. My cards are on the table.''

Benham, 66, lives near Minneapolis. He has saved fine arts programs in school districts for 28 years. He was recommended by Jeff Hanjian, who worked in Gwinnett County, Ga., when Benham performed his magic there in 1995.

Benham estimates his fee would be $8,000 plus transportation, food and lodging for a week - peanuts compared to Lee's possible financial woes.

Michel Wilk's daughter, Emily, is a junior clarinet player at Fort Myers High.

"Music is our lives in many ways - and my daughter would be lost without it,'' Wilk writes. "I spend countless hours fundraising - because the music program receives a hysterically small amount of money each year.

"The school does not pay for the marching band - the parents do. All of the other band ensembles are also supported by the boosters.We pay for our own buses, equipment trucks, music (for all ensembles) and instrument repair. We drive to and from.

"One wonders what would happen if they cut the sports programs or even one sports program.''

If you want to help, call Hanjian at 470-1895.