The Mountain Eagle had coverage today of last Thursday's Board of Education meeting in Stamford, which reportedly became an impromptu protest of a popular music teacher's firing from Stamford Central School.
Pamela West-FinkleAccording to the article, Pamela Sue West-Finkle was told two weeks ago that "she no longer held a position at the school."
Reporter Rosie Cunningham writes that about 15 students attended the meeting to protest the firing. Several spoke at length about their love for West-Finkle:
SCS high school student Jacqueline Olson, discussed how important Finkle was to the student body and how disappointed she and her fellow students are about the music teacher being released.
“As students of this school I think you should come out and tell us why she was cut, because then maybe we won’t be as upset as we are.
“She was a great friend, a great teacher and she really helped us out. We can’t come to any other teacher like we could with her.
In addition to being a teacher, West-Finkle is a singer-songwriter who performs around the region. (She'll be playing at the Kaaterskill House in Stamford next week.)
On her Facebook page, West-Finkle writes that she has been teaching general music, vocal music, and "History of Rock & Roll & Poetry of Song" to SCS students since 2006. In her bio, she describes her musical career and its transition from classical to classic rock and psychedelic pop:
Pamela ... was heavily influenced by the classical art rock and psychedelic pop of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s--bands like Led Zeppelin, The Moody Blues, Traffic, Spirit, Yes, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd. Inspired to write because of profound life changes, she left the classical scene to pursue her original music in 1994. She added 6 & 12 string guitar, synthesizer, and a collection of flutes to her repertoire, performing as a solo artist, in duets, bands, and as a session player.
She has since written and produced nearly 75 original songs in over 14 genres of music. A multi-instrumentalist and powerful, versatile singer, West’s live performances are captivating and serenely enchanting, exploring American Blues Rock, Classical European, Latin Jazz, Middle-Eastern, Tibetan, and Appalachian Folk influences. She has toured the United States East Coast and Midwest, England, the Caribbean, and spent the summer of 2004 performing in Vienna, Austria.
Neither the Mountain Eagle article not West-Finkle's Facebook page contain an explanation for why she was let go.
