Letoni Murry named administrator of the year for music ed

“This award appropriately reflects the endless hours you have spent supporting music education programs at your school,” wrote Jeffrey T. Phillips, Ed.D, past president of the TMEA and American School Band Directors Association, in a letter sent to Murry.

Murry will be honored April 6 at an event being held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

“I thought it (is) more of a recognition of our staff, Mr. (Andrew) Lynn and Ms. (Jazmin) Jordan,” Murry said of the award, “and how well they are conducting themselves with our young students. To me, it’s just as important to support the arts as much as academics.

“But, of course, I was proud and honored and all those other wonderful words that come to mind.”

Phillips went on to thank Murry for “making a difference in the lives of students.” Murray will be presented with his award during the opening session of the conference.

In addition, the Stewarts Creek Middle School band has been selected to perform later that afternoon in the Presidential Ballroom.

The school has a long tradition of excellence in arts – “it’s a team effort” – and the future looks especially strong for the band program.

There are right at 330 sixth-graders enrolled at the school and third of them are involved in the band program.

“It’s something that you do and it becomes a habit … and it’s engrained in them,” said Murry, who added it’s a testament to a district like Rutherford County that recently hired a fine arts coordinator. “I don’t know of too many districts with that much of an emphasis on it, but we have a person, Ms. (Lindsay) Halford, whose job it is to tend to their needs and the things they need in their department.

“That’s a credit to our school board too — recognizing the importance of the arts,” continued Murry, who added, “When we do well, it’s all of us doing well.”

Murry’s award and the upcoming band performance band only enhances the notoriety of the quality and success of the musical arts program at Stewarts Creek Middle and Rutherford County.