Chandler Excited to Lead Excelling, Growing Choral Program

Dr. Todd Chandler admits he feels like he hasn’t worked many days in his career as a chorus teacher within the Jackson County School System. For him, the leader of the choral program at East Jackson High School, teaching students and leading a top-tier performing arts program doesn’t feel like work at all. 

Chandler says he is living his dream by having the opportunity to work inside the school system he grew up in and teaching his passion for music. 

Chandler and the East Jackson Chorus program are coming off the announcement that a record 21 students qualified for All-State Chorus, a highly competitive opportunity for students to learn at the state-level. The 21 students ranked among the top of all schools in the state of Georgia. 

The record number of students qualifying for all-state was not by chance, though. It was all part of the bigger picture Chandler has been working toward for years.

“That is a record for here,” Chandler said. “When (Dr. Stratemeyer) came, one of my goals was to increase the number of all-state kids. And so we had two or three make it his first year, we doubled it the second year, but I had rehearsals on Mondays and Wednesdays after school. This year, we had rehearsals every single day. I recruited more kids within our building who I thought would have a good chance to make it and basically gave them all my time after school.”

Chandler knows the dedication his students have put in is only going to make the entire program stronger.

“Individually, one of our goals was to make everyone of our kids stronger, give them the tools to make all-state. It is a wonderful opportunity for them,” Chandler said. “Of course, now we are getting ready for choral competitions and that only makes us stronger as we get ready to compete.”

Chandler admits the success his program is experiencing is a direct reflection of the dedication being put into performing arts at the lower grade levels, as students are exposed to music at a younger age. 

“I think we have an extremely strong staff, all throughout the county,” Chandler said. “We do a fine arts day here and I see what our elementary school kids are doing, and a lot of our success — I think of the Jackson County band, the JCHS chorus, what we do here with what Mr. (Jonathan) Bagley is doing — it starts from the ground up with kindergarten offering classes. We are very fortunate, not every school system offers K-5 music. Ninety-five percent of our success is attributed to them getting out and recruiting kids, teaching them essential skills. When they get to me, we just pick up where they left off.

“All around the county, we should be really proud of the work being put in. The support we receive, from our Board of Education, it is not like this everywhere you go.”

Chandler is a major proponent that extracurricular activities will lead students to gain more life experience and in turn better prepare them for their lives following graduation.

“Essential skills,” Chandler said. “We learn essential skills and then we drill them. It is like football, you think of the word drill and sometimes people think it has a negative connotation. To me, that is what it is all about. It is about using your skills and making sure you have a foundation you need so that you know how to utilize them. In life, you learn your skills and you utilize those skills.”

Chandler is a graduate of Jackson County High School, saying his family was a farming family growing up. Chandler says he grew up in a musical family, mainly bluegrass and country musicians, and received his first opportunity to sing literary soloist by his teacher at JCCHS. 

“I was a very poor musician,” Chandler said. “I didn’t read music. I just used my ear to get me by.”

From there, Chandler received more formal training at the University of Georgia where he made all-state chorus.

“That changed my life,” he says. 

Chandler received additional education from Shorter University, where he says he realized his skills were not where they needed to be to have a career as a performer. His focus turned to being an educator.

“So one of my goals was to come back to Jackson County to teach our kids those skills to become successful musicians, if they want to be teachers, opera singers, pop stars, who knows,” Chandler said. “I taught at Gilmer County Middle School for a couple of years and then the job position came open at Jackson County High School. My wife was over there so I taught there until 2010.”

Chandler left to receive his doctoral degree from the University of Georgia, later returning to his educator role at East Jackson Middle School before transferring to East Jackson High School. Since then, he has continued to take the program to new heights, even as the community continues to grow.

“I am really excited,” Chandler said. “I am really excited about the leadership we have in place right now. I think we have the right leadership as we watch the county grow. You watch all these programs, and I couldn’t imagine what some of these leaders have to do to see this area and the amount of growth, and what they have to do to support us teachers while also having a vision for the future.

“It is very exciting, not only to see how performing arts is moving forward, our sports are moving forward, the advanced placement tests and the number of kids taking those these days, dual enrollment. All the things we offer, I just hear people say ‘I wish we had that when I was in high school.’ So I am a huge team player, I want our kids to do everything.”