ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — After Asheville City Schools said earlier this month that the orchestra program at Asheville Middle School would not be returning for the fall semester, AMS students will have the opportunity to demonstrate interest in continuing the class through an after-school club.
Following the original Asheville City Schools decision, students, parents and community members rallied behind the orchestra, attending Asheville City Board of Education meetings in droves to protest.
Read about the Aug. 10, 2026, board meeting in our story here: ‘Save our strings’: Music students protest Asheville City Schools orchestra elimination
One of the most vocal proponents for the class’s continuation was AMS parent Jeff Thompson, whose 12-year-old daughter, Hayes Bailey, is a violinist at AMS. Thompson and Bailey both spoke at the Aug. 10 meeting, where they wore T-shirts with the slogan “Save Our Strings.”
On Thursday, Aug. 20, Thompson shared an email he felt “cautiously optimistic about” on Facebook. The message was from AMS principal Blair Johnston.
“I’m reaching out to share some positive news related to orchestra at Asheville Middle School. I have been able to collaborate with Xavier Ferdón, an AMS Parent, who is acting as a liaison with other families, to advocate for the return of the orchestra program,” Johnston wrote. “The good news is that there’s a real chance that orchestra will return as a class during the 2nd semester of this school year. The first step is to start an after-school strings club in September, and if enough interest is built this fall, we’ll be able to schedule orchestra again in the second semester. More details to come.”
Orchestra opportunities at Asheville Middle School and Asheville High School
828newsNOW reached out to Asheville City Schools for more information about the orchestra club.
In response, Kimberly Dechant, chief of staff for Asheville City Schools, shared a flyer that was sent to AMS and Asheville High School students, families and staff, which detailed “all of the potential opportunities” for sixth to 12th grade students interested in orchestra.
The flyer was predominantly focused on the Asheville Symphony Youth Orchestra, a branch of the Asheville Symphony, which Asheville City Schools youth with previous strings experience were encouraged to audition to participate in.
Information about the orchestra club, Beginning Strings, was available in a bullet under the heading “Middle School Grades 6-8,” which directed students and parents to a portal for the Asheville City Schools Foundation. The Beginning Strings club will be offered through ACSF In Real Life after-school programming.
The club will be offered in a 10 week cycle beginning Sept. 15, 2026, said Copland Rudolph, ACSF executive director. Transportation will be provided for all participating kids in need.
Up to 15 students with no previous strings experience may participate, though Rudolph said that limit could expand if enough kids express interest.
“There will be spots for 15 kids in this strings and we think that that is a good number. If we have kids who want to do a second day, or more kids who only want to do one day, but can’t make Tuesday, we will look at expanding,” Rudolph said. “We are gonna meet the need, and the same with transportation. If we get into a situation where we have a lot of kids needing rides home, then we’ll work with the school district on perhaps working on a actual yellow bus to take kids home.”
Rudolph said students with prior strings experience should explore joining the ASYO, which meets at 5 p.m. on Monday evenings at AHS. Placement in the ASYO ensemble is contingent on auditions. Tuition assistance for 90% of the ASYO cost is available for AMS and AHS students.
The ASYO also offers private lessons through its Private Lesson Assistance for Youth program, or PLAY. PLAY will cover up to 75% of private lesson costs, based on a sliding income scale.
Concern for the orchestra
Thompson expressed concerns that the parameters for increasing enrollment through the after-school club were purposefully narrow.
“The more that I dug, the more it really started to look like we were being set up to fail,” Thompson said.
“I have a few reasons for believing that. One is that the goal enrollment number, according to one of the school board members, this is straight from one of the school board members, had originally been set at 60, and the new criterion is 75. They raised the number by 15, seemingly arbitrarily. That seems a little strange to me, especially when you couple that with the fact that we’re not going to have the benefit for spring semester enrollment of any incoming students.”
Asheville City Schools declined to answer an 828newsNOW inquiry about how many students would have to sign on for the program to justify the return of the elective in the spring. The ACBOE had previously cited low enrollment as the reason for the discontinuation of the AMS orchestra program.
Thompson said that based on previous numbers, enrollment would have to grow from 39 to 75 in one semester, “only drawing from the current student body.”
Thompson also questioned whether an after-school program could attract as many students as a school-day elective.
However, Thompson said that he and other community members had been developing several strategies for bringing awareness to the orchestra program.
One thought was that Thompson, a professional musician, would collaborate with a diverse assortment of local artists to write a song “that expresses what’s going on,” bringing in several community perspectives to stand in unified support of student orchestra.
Another was that Asheville area artists, including jazz and hip-hop musicians, could work with AMS orchestra students on concerts demonstrating the versatility of orchestral music.
Speaking on behalf of the AMS orchestra student in his life, Thompson said that Bailey, equally passionate about the return of the program, was “sort of like me. She’s cautiously optimistic.“
For more information about IRL clubs, visit www.acsf.org/irl-catalog.
