PRIORITIZE THE ART PROGRAM

Students deserve better than overpacked upper-level art classes

BY ADELE ERICKSON STAFF REPORTER

Several LHS art students were devastated when they checked their 2022 class schedules to find that they were no longer enrolled in Portfolio or AP Art.

The Lawrence High administration denied art teacher Todd Poteet’s request for two separate portfolio classes. Instead, they gave him a class of 34 advanced students and turned down 22 students who wanted to take the class. This decision has proven to be extremely detrimental to the advanced students as well as Poteet.

Lawrence High is a school of many great achievements, one of which is our successful arts program. Over the four years Poteet has been teaching, LHS has won several awards, including the Scholastic Golden Key Awards and We the People Photo Contest. The LHS art program is widely recognized as one of the best in the state.

This decision to cut so many students instead of allowing another class will greatly affect what comes out of the arts program.

The main solution Poteet proposed was getting rid of a Drawing I or an

Intro to Visual Arts class so that he and photography teacher Angela Perkins could co-teach portfolio and AP, but the administration refused.

“What this change is really doing is valuing only getting the required arts credits instead of advanced students who may want to have a career in art,” Poteet said.

Many of his students feel the same. Overall entry level classes such as Drawing 1 and Intro to Visual Arts aren’t taken as seriously and are viewed by most students who take them as a means to an end. People in Portfolio, on the other hand, typically have hopes to attend art schools in the future.

Due to the larger class, several students have suffered as a result of not getting as much one-on-one time with Poteet.

When asked about how the larger class size had affected his learning and his potential trajectory in art, junior Aiden Anderson explained that it makes everything harder.

“A lot of us are in there to build our college portfolios and hopefully get scholarships but it’s harder to do that when you can’t spend enough time talking with the teacher,” Anderson said.

Poteet sees the impact, too.

“They’re advanced students, they’re going to need more of my attention and time, and when you group them all together that becomes virtually impossible,” Poteet said.

As an art student in the combined class, I can attest to the pure and utter chaos that having 34 students created. One of the best parts about those art classes in the past was the amount of feedback you could get from Poteet. With this change, that time and feedback was essentially been eradicated.

My proposed solution is one of two things: either combine AP photo with the combined AP art and portfolio class and let Perkins co-teach that class, or split the classes in two. This would allow the people who were cut to be in the class by getting rid of one of the intro classes.

Despite all of this, there is a silver lining: this lack of guidance is forcing art students to work more independently and feed off of each other. Although there are a lot of negative effects from this, it is my belief that the arts program will find a new way to thrive in its harsh environment. As Poteet said, “There are no bad things, only things we haven’t seen the good in yet.”

Giving instructions, teacher Todd Poteet describes the lesson plan to his combined AP art and portfolio class of more than 30 students. “When there’s class of 30 or more, that 52 minute period, by the time we get base instructions and get set up, I don’t have enough time to spend 30 seconds a student,” Poteet said. “Many students find themselves coming before and after school to try and get that extra help, they come during my plan period or during lunch, in order to get the help that they couldn’t get during class time.”

Photo by Fin Tholen

Talking to classmates, junior Izy Klish works with to other students in her portfolio class. “It’s a very supportive environment,” Klish said. “All of the teachers just want to see you thrive no matter what level you’re at. ” Photo by Fin Tholen

Listening in, senior Katie Hurd focuses on Todd Poteet as he lectures the class. “I learn a lot about art but not in a way that shames my art style, which I really appreciate,” Hurd said.

Photo by Fin Tholen