The music room is stocked with some instruments for students but still lacks many much-needed supplies. Maria Skillings / The Times Record
This week, Matthew Fogg, the parent of a Dike Newell Elementary School student, is raising money to bring the music back after a devastating arson destroyed all the school’s instruments and music materials.
Fogg put together a GoFundMe page dedicated to the elementary school’s music program. As a Bowdoin College music professor and parent to a Dike Newell first grader, Palix, Fogg said he felt a responsibility to help music teacher Celina Reed restock her classroom.
“It’s hard enough just to get funding for your music program year-round, let alone when someone comes and destroys your school,” Fogg said.
The elementary school library, along with Reed’s music room, were deemed a total loss after an an alleged arsonist broke into Dike Newell and set fire to an art supply closet two months ago. Allan Vigil of Bath is still being held at Two Bridges Jail in Wiscasset, awaiting his next undetermined court date, according to a clerk at the West Bath Court House.
“It’s been very hard because my whole job is to give my kids a place to feel safe and to learn, and we lost that,” Reed said. “We are trying so hard to rebuild it.”
With a goal of $10,000, Fogg said the GoFundMe page had reached around $6,500 as of Wednesday afternoon.
“For him to just take this and run with it is completely incredible; a small peek at what we’ve seen from our community,” Reed said.
A teacher for eight years, Reed said she had only completed her first year at Dike Newell when the fire destroyed thousands of dollars’ worth of musical equipment.
“Truly, the teacher who came before me did an excellent job collecting those instruments. Some of them were handmade,” she said.
Reed’s predecessor had taught for 30 years at Dike Newell and collected an extensive instrument collection, including xylophones worth over $1,000 each, an African goat-skin drum valued at $200, slapsticks, slide whistles, triangles, sound squares, tambourines, rhythm sticks, maracas and dozens more, according to Reed.
“There is no way the insurance company can know what was truly in there and the hours that were spent decorating my classroom,” she said.
She acknowledged her situation wasn’t unique among teachers at the Bath school.
“There are so many teachers who have lost so many things,” Reed said.
She said one of her co-workers lost a standing desk in the fire that was handcrafted by their husband.
The fire not only destroyed Reed’s instruments but also the Play-Doh students used to mold musical notes, crayons used for drawing the sounds of a song and Reed’s personal childhood Beanie Baby collection — a popular stuffed toy collectible from the ’90s — her students used to tell musical stories.
“I cried a few times about that,” Reed said.
As the district waits for its insurance claim to go through, Reed said the school “dipped into emergency funds” to purchase essentials.
“We were able to get egg shakers and hand drums for each student,” Reed said.
With a “hands-on” teaching style and a “play-focused” curriculum, Reed said she still needs “child-friendly percussion instruments,” such as cowbells, wooden blocks, chimes, tambourines, triangles and maracas.
“We certainly have some instruments. Anything additional to that would be incredible, including rhythm sticks, puppets and crayons,” she said. “I have these kids draw what they hear. There are so many lessons I have to change because I don’t have crayons.”
When all the funds have been collected, Fogg said he will send a check directly to Reed so she can “do whatever it is she wants to with her program.”
Donations to the Dike Newell music fund can be made at gofund.me/9ae9092a.
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