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Thursday, April 15, 2010 | Volume 81 | Issue 09 St. Louis Park High School | 6425 W. 33rd Street, St. Louis Park, MN 55426
www.slpecho.com
Art options draw scrutiny Elena Potek | Staff Writer
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here were tears, standing ovations and biting criticisms at the March 22 School Board meeting, as community members spoke out against the Board’s decision to cut art specialists at the fourth and fifth grade level. In order to keep art instruction consistent throughout K-5 grades, the district will make a final decision regarding art specialist programming by the end of June. “As an art specialist with 530 students per week in two buildings per day, I see student achievement and success on an hourly basis. Students have pride in their work, talk about their ideas, and do their best because they want to and because they can,” said Lynne Rainer, elementary art specialist. Currently one hour of art per week is taught by an art specialist in fourth and fifth grade. However, art will be reorganized and taught by the regular elementary teachers starting next year. Superintendent Debra Bowers stresses the recommendation to cut art specialists from the 4-5 grade level is still in process and she urges passionate parents to contact the state legislature to demand change. “Unfortunately parents are contacting the School Board but not those at the state level. When we get 0 percent from the state, we can’t make everything work. I strongly encourage people to contact Tim Pawlenty. Without that, nothing will change. If they don’t hear from parents then there won’t be a catalyst for helping public education,” Bowers said. At the open forum March 22, senior Colleen Bell spoke out against the district’s decision to change art programming. “If I didn’t have the art background from elementary school I wouldn’t choose to do it later on. Kids deserve the right to have an opportunity to be creative in school,” Bell said. Fourth grade teacher at Susan Lindgren Deb Cornelius does not feel adequately prepared to take the place of an art specialist and was dissatisfied with the way that the decision was made. “The time needed to make me qualified is not likely to happen in the near future, definitely not in time for next year,” Cornelius said. “Teachers were not asked for feedback regarding the elimination of art for fourth and fifth grade.” Co-president of the teacher’s union, Ann Jurewicz, believes the teachers at the elementary level were surprised with the decision, but acknowledges they do not need to be part of the process. “Everyone gets upset when programs get cut out. I don’t think the teachers at the elementary level saw it coming so it was a real concern … However the district administration is not required to involve teachers in the decision making process,” Jurewicz said. School Board member Larry Shapiro addressed the difficulty of the decision to cut art programming. Board members are attempting to raise $70,000 in the next two months to keep these specialists. “It doesn’t come down to the School Board not liking art, we are forced into a situation where we have to cut something. It’s not about what we like or what we don’t like, it’s about making a decision that’s going to work.
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Photo illustration | Taylor Delaney & Madee Weisner