Despite a board resolution in 2012 calling for a restoration of arts funding in Los Angeles, Superintendent John Deasy has refused to prepare a budget complying with the resolution.
“In 2012, the Los Angeles Unified School District board voted to make arts education a core subject in its curriculum.
“Four months ago, the board gave district officials a Dec. 3 deadline to produce a budget for the school district’s Arts Education and Creative Cultural Network Plan, which aims to prepare students for work in creative and technology-based fields by increasing arts-related course offerings and increased faculty support.
“That deadline, however, came and went without so much as a “the check’s in the mail”— leaving public school officials and parents to wonder whether music and arts funding is coming at all.
“I see this as an absolute conflict between two opposing views on what public education should look like: Those who want to see arts as a core subject, and those who are only concerned about test scores and offering students a limited education,” said Karen Wolfe, a Venice Neighborhood Council Education Committee member whose daughter attends Marina Del Rey Middle School.
“Last year the school hired a ballet teacher and began requiring all of its students to take dance classes, said Marina Del Rey Middle School Performing Arts Coordinator Nancy Pierandozzi.
“Venice High School, Mark Twain Middle School and Grand View Boulevard and Broadway elementary schools have also begun integrating performing arts content into English/language arts classes.
“That combination has for some students resulted in a drastic turnaround in attendance and academic achievement, said LAUSD board member Steve Zimmer, whose district includes schools in Mar Vista, Westchester, Del Rey and Venice.
“Author of the September resolution calling for an arts budget, Zimmer has pledged to push Supt. John Deasy for answers when school is back in session later this month.
“Deasy could not be reached.”
The district has committed to spend $1 billion to give an iPad to every student and staff member, to prepare for Common Core testing.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
There is an element of social reproduction here. The USDOE’s survey of arts programs in 2012 showed a clear difference in the amount, variety, and quality of arts programs offered in schools serving children of varying socio-econiomc status.
For example, 96 percent of the public secondary schools with free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) populations under 25 percent provide instruction in music at the elementary level; that number drops to 81 percent in schools with populations where over 76 percent qualify for FRPL. 56 percent of secondary schools with low FRPL populations offer five or more courses in the visual arts, while only 22 percent of high-FRPL population schools offer the same.
A research brief from the National Endowment for the Arts (2012) provides evidence that this opportunity gap in arts education has consequences that would relate directly to the construction of class identity. At-risk youth who had high levels of arts engagement performed better academically on a wide variety of assessments, were more likely to enroll in and complete a college degree program, were more likely to be civicly engaged, and were more likely to have aspirations towards careers in higher status occupations. Arts engagement also correlates to wider engagement in other extracurricular activities:
“One of the most impressive indicators of academic achievement that was found in any of the databases is actually an extracurricular one. As shown in the chart below, among low-SES and high-SES students alike, high school seniors with arts-rich backgrounds were significantly more likely than students with less arts exposure to belong to academic honor societies.
“When it comes to participating in extracurricular activities as a whole, favorable results were also seen with respect to arts-rich students in both high- and low-SES groups, in high school and college alike.” (p. 17)
Extracurriculars are, of course, one of the necessary prerequisites of admission to elite colleges.
What John Deasy is doing here is an act of class warfare: he is consigning a generation of children attending LAUSD – many of whom are living in economic disadvantage – to an education where they do not get to develop the social capital nor the personal qualities a rich education in the arts provides.
Meanwhile, children in wealthier suburban districts and tony private school enjoy a full complement of offerings in arts education and all that follows from that. It’s shameful – but, alas, it is simply one more way Deasy and his ilk work to condemn poor and working class urban children to life they would never accept for their own brood.
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And look at what the teacher quoted in the article is doing. I know her and I happen to know that she spent her entire summer calling and writing to make sure she got that dance teacher by the first day of school. She’s a bold, veteran teacher whom we begged not to retire last year. She’s not one to wait around for a policy to be implemented.
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And I should add that Steve Zimmer helped her!
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As this research documents, schools that cut arts so that low income students can do better on tests are being shortsighted. There are huge advantages to having a strong arts program. Those advantages/benefits are not limited to test scores.
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With all the money that flows from the arts in Los Angeles, it’s incredible that Deasy can’t see the value of arts in education. Truly unbelievable.
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Well, Eli Broad, the man behind a lot of these reforms owns the arts in LA. He has control of museums, music centers and more, with many charter schools affiliated with celebrities one assumes they offer arts and that is a big draw. Recent studies correlate a huge improvement in academics when students are immersed in arts at school. Music is of special importance for students, but I think visual and performing arts are just as vital. The truth is this things will not be available to poor students. LAUSD and charters segregate EL, IEPs and behavior problems, who my experience says benefit a great deal from arts, which means they will be at a bigger disadvantage than before. The criminal indifference to the well being and best interests of students is so appalling. If we do not do something soon, the damage these people do will be more profound than anyone imagines. It makes me ill
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Those “arts integrated” classes are not art. Drawing in math class is not the same as learning how to draw perspective, or singing every day, or exploring an idea through multiple media over a semester. Art as a core subject is a very different thing. You know; we all grew up with it.
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In LA, ELD used to include singing, chants, and poems. No time for that if you follow the scripted lesson!
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Right on, Rene. Don’t forget the hugely expensive arts magnet high school downtown named for a former superintendent. That superintendent’s behavior led to a huge sexual harassment lawsuit by a district employment which was settled for almost half a million dollars in salary and lifetime benefits. That would have paid for a lot of arts teachers and supplies.
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California teachers of K-8 are required to teach and grade the arts. If there is no funding for art supplies, musical instruments, etc. how can we say that our students receive a well-rounded education? Some students are more motivated by the arts than by any other subjects. Our kids are sick of nothing but reading, writing, and math. Where are science, social studies, health, and PE?
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Charlotte, you know too well that Deasy is above the law. I have documents that show LAUSD has violated a multitude of civil rights laws and denied students equity. The Feds and the state are well aware of thee problems, as the documents are from these agencies. But nothing more than an agreement to improve is used to address LAUSDeasy’s unrelenting noncompliance and violations. Upon scrutiny the documents are clearly itemizing things that must not continue. For example , Deasy agreed to provide better ESL programs for students while not denying EL learners access to the same coursework and opportunities that native speakers enjoy,
That was two years ago, a pbouttw months ago , Deasy Segregated EL students, which is an affront to what we know about language acquistion , the Brown Act and laws against discrimination. Will Deasy answer for it? Unlikely.
I will be posting these reports from the state and feds as well asinsights about the loss of arts in lausd ckassroooms this weekend. We welcome any information or exposition teachers or parents would like to have posted. We always respect your privacy,
http://www.hemlockontherocks.com
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We not only know that Deasy and the district are above the law, we also know that local judges always rule in favor of the district, so what is the district’s motivation to follow the law. iPads for everyone, I say!
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The most important thing to know is that California Ed Code requires that the arts be taught in grades 1-12. Is Superintendent John Deasy denying funding for the arts in LAUSD and therefore in violation of state law?
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/education/2013/10/23/15038/california-law-requires-arts-education-does-your-d/
I’m sure State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson would be interested to know this. Perhaps Deasy would like to review his decision.
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In poorer Los Angeles neighborhoods, guess what, no arts. In more affluent neighborhoods, the “booster” club parents get out their checkbooks. Most poor schools have no PTAs because the parents are told that too high a percentage of the dues goes to the state and national boards. It’s a great way to disenfranchise parents. At the last (inner city) school I taught at, the weekly traveling art instructor with many years of experience (seniority) could not be sure she would have a job from one year to the next. Her full-time job was “purchased” by the parents at an affluent elementary school. In Los Angeles you only get what you can pay for. 😦
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The ARTS is something good…thus Dease-ness. He wants total control.
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where I come from, that kind of refusal to comply with your employers expectations is called insubordination and is a fireable offense.
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Who is his employer? In 2011 Bill Gates paid his salary. Maybe Bill Gates is still covering his nut and has it in for CA Ed Codes. INE thing is certain, and that’s that every teachers should report Deasy to CTC ( where is not very popular) and send an email to the over or who also takes issue with Deasy to some extent. How about a petition? I was busy with a bill outlawing these ASTRO turf and phoney court cases like Veirgra vs LAUSD, etc. but this is crucial. Please email me with your ideas or suggestions concerning a petition to ? Brown and CTC? About? Making Deasy support arts as it is the law and methods to enforce it. As I recall there was money donated for arts and earmarked from funds just last year, right?
Daughtersofbukowski@gmail.com
http://www.hemlockontherocks.com
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Arts integration is not a substitute for arts education. In order for integration to be successful there must be formal instruction.
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I am working on a master’s degree in integrating the arts. I order to integrate, the concepts of the particular art must be taught. That is a requirement. Added to that is a content objective. So if I were using visual art to teach geography- land forms, I would talk about color, line, and the media (the art materials being used chalk, paint, clay etc). The students would be required to create a piece of visual art that also showed land forms. If I miss the content standards for either subject, the lesson bombed. The goal of integration is to expose students to many differing art forms, dance, music, drama, story telling, visual arts etc. These arts all have similarities but also employ differing thought processes and skills. Using the arts is a way to increase rigor as it requires the student to look at information through various lenses. It also allows students varying methodes if communicating ones knowledge. The biggest problem I see is that basic understanding if the arts and art performance don’t lend themselves to quantitative data. Knowing what the complementary colors are, is a different skill than examining another painters use of complementary color or even the use of complementary color in the student’s own work. Its artistic value is not quantifiable. In a pressing need to prove our educational worth, this kind of practice is looked upon in test driven schools as a liability. As a teacher in such a school, I feel severe anxiety each time I attempt this kind of broad lesson plan. Heaven forbid, the principal does not understand the process of art integration. Now I lose on my evaluative observations.
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2012 Occupational Outlook Handbook:
Printing Workers: 276,000
Graphic Designers: 259,500
Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers: 216,000
Drafters: 199,800
Web Developers: 141,400
Photographers: 136,300
Architects :107,400
Producers and Directors: 103,500
Art Directors: 74,800
Multimedia Artists and Animators: 68,900
Floral Designers: 62,400
Fine Artists and Illustrators: 51,400
Film and Video Editors and Camera Operators: 49,500
Jewelry, Precious Stone, and Metal Workers: 32,700
Archivists, Curators, and Museum Workers: 29,300
Fashion Designers: 22,300
Desktop publishers: 16,400
Many of these career fields (graphic designers, web developers) will experience high growth between now and the time when these kids graduate. And, of course, these figures are for people who work full time in these occupations and do not include the millions who do desktop publishing, presentation design, photo and video editing, etc., as part of their jobs. Nor do these figures include the many who engage in these arts recreationally or who are not artists themselves but who are arts consumers (i.e., just about everyone).
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And these figures do not include actors, dancers, and musicians.
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Ooooh let me steal this for the petition
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If we don’t get cracking, those jobs will go straight overseas.
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Just today, KPCC reported that 20 LAUSD schools lost their arts teachers because their overall enrollment went down. So, what good is an arts plan if you have no teachers?
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/education/2014/01/17/15622/wilshire-crest-among-20-schools-who-lost-art-teach/
There was also a plan prepared by LA Fund for Public Education, a non-profit which was co-founded by Deasy himself. That plan presented “arts integration” as the answer to the lack of arts education. On further review, the plan would most certainly reduce the need for credentialed arts teachers and at the same time, require all teachers to be trained in arts integration. In fact, the plan describes how physics teachers can teach dance as an example of “motion”. Just what we need……make classroom teachers responsible for a whole other subject!!!!!
So, what plan will Deasy present to the board? That’s if he ever does.
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Educator makes an excellent point. Integrated arts is not the same as art class. IN LAUSD, art is becoming a luxury. I hope the board holds Deasy accountable for a real arts program. The philanthropic community may be hoodwinked, but teachers, parents and students in the trenches know better.
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Of course Deasy is a product of the Eli Broad superintendent school where the superitendent is the boss and runs the whole show.Ignore the board, the teachers and the students need and steamroll your agenda through regardless of what anyone else says or what reality dictates. Broad’s only interest is science and math, thus Deasy took an inner city school district where students struggle to get a degree and made it mandatory to have algebra II and Physics. We all know those are totally unecessary unless you plan to go to college, and that art and creativity is at the heart and in the heart of many inner city youth that struggle with language and other forms of communication. Of course that would require commonsense and a perspective that deals with reality rather than insisting on an agenda that doesn’t fit the reality or needs for your students. Just a tragedy. And unless and until the Board the union and the teachers can rein Deasy in it will continue to happen.
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Don’t forget, the Broad Academy is not accredited, but is vital to climbing the superintendent “career ladder” across the country. Twelve units, and instant “expertise”. Would that it were really that easy.
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It’s ironic to see this happen, right next to Hollywood which relies on arts education for its industry.
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Hollywood sees those inner city immigrant kids as future gardeners. A child born in Europe has a better chance of working in Hollywood than a child born and educated in Hollywood.
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Sad, but possibly true.
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Hollywood is 2-faced. all talk and very little action for public school. the question is…how do we harness all of this frustration with current administration into solid alliance and action?
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Advocacy that draws on research from the National Endowment for the Arts can send mixed messages. For example, “One of the most impressive indicators of academic achievement that was found in any of the databases is actually an extracurricular one. As shown in the chart below, among low-SES and high-SES students alike, high school seniors with arts-rich backgrounds were significantly more likely than students with less arts exposure to belong to academic honor societies.”
There are many problems with this and related studies from the National Endowment for the Arts.
First, “arts-rich background” is defined to include students who attend high schools that offer a portfolio of multi-year courses in one or more the arts. These are likely to be arts magnet schools, schools in wealthy districts, and schools in those few states and districts that may require some high school arts courses for graduation. The absence of systematic studies in the arts, K-12, means that much education in the arts is outsourced to parents, community arts agencies, and the larger culture.
Second, NEA researchers have long equated any kind of participation in the arts–literally “exposure” to them–as educationally significant and not different in outcome from formal studies in schools. This research seems to say that formal instruction under the auspices of schools is unnecessary. Treating art as an extracurricular activity is a good idea
Third, notice that this NEA study pursues “academic achievement” as if this is an important criterion for assessing the efficacy of acquiring an “arts-rich background.” This line of reasoning fails to recognize that education in the arts also has an academic dimension (historical, cultural, critical), but is not “merely” academic, but consequential. In addition, the study implies that SES is not a significant barrier to the forms of “arts exposure” associated with academic honors. These inferences require a studied disregard for the many studies on the relationship of income to arts participation, to say nothing of the data on access to arts education from the National Center for Education statistics and the National Assessment of Educational Progress the Arts.
Add to this brew of mixed messages some characteristics of conversations about arts education. Cliches that demean the value of formal studies in the arts are common–“The arts speak for themselves;” “The arts are a “univeral language everyone can understand;” “If you have to explain it, it isn’t art;” “Children are naturally artisitc and creative;” “Art is anything you can get away with;” “I dont’ know anything about art, but I know what I like;” “Don’t teach the arts, let the arts teach,” etc.
Then add a sustained campaign of marketing now-and-then, short-term “arts integration” strategies as a great way to bootleg arts education into schools. The end result is often another affirmation that arts education is “taken care of” if kids are permitted (for example) to sing the alphabet song (music + language arts), enact the rhythms of a beating heart (dance + science), or participate in a federally funded program that seeks improved math skills by resurrecting the time-intensive art of basket weaving (citation on request).
In too many respects, the problems in providing coherent programs of study in the arts to every child in California schools are not different from the problems in almost every state. A decade of designating the arts as a core subject has not prevented massive cuts in programs, whether in school or extracurricular. The unspoken policy in American education seems to be this: Give not much more than lip-service to arts education in schools. A little dab will do you.
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Elimination of instrumental music
(revised December 23, 2013)
This what I planned to say to the LAUSD Board on Tuesday December 17th, but couldn’t get in–this is what I would have said on that day:
My name is Barbara Aran. I am a retired LAUSD elementary teacher. Today I speak for the school communities of Wilshire Crest Elementary and Laurel Elementary schools.
Ladies and gentlemen:
Let’s describe an act of cowardice. An action taken as a clever sneak attack on the instrumental music program with no time to respond. The time line was as short as possible so that people would not know in advance.
Music instruments are being collected and removed from the students AT THIS VERY MOMENT AS I SPEAK TO YOU at these two schools with no prior notice to anyone in the school communities, or communication from the district or the arts branch. I found out about this situation on Friday because the two teachers at the schools are my friends and colleagues, and fellow chamber music performers, Ginny Atherton and Diane Lang.
Winter break starts next Monday, so it will be four weeks before anyone can respond to this outrage, a travesty against children, parents, teachers and the school communities. But particularly the injustice against children.
So I am asking for four actions from this board today:
An apology letter from the District to all stakeholders, including children, for how this has been handled—prior to the vacation.
Rescind this “very bad idea”
Expose WHO, WHY, WHEN, and HOW this decision was made (no one seems to know any of this—
Board resolution “no mid year changes for instrumental music, commitment for two semesters (full year) for instrumental music”. If only 3 semesters of arts per school, then schools should know that they can count on having it for the full year.
This devastating attack could not have been planned to be more emotionally devastating to the children and the school communities, to produce the maximum emotional distress.
Your actions or inactions today speak much louder than any meaningless words when you say that you support the arts and the music program.
These students are being deprived of an opportunity which they may not ever have again. They have done nothing wrong to deserve this treatment by adults. They will be devastated. Many are excited and buy into making music, an opportunity now lost, a broken contract with the parents, the students, the teachers and staff. Parents’ expectations for the education of their children are diminished. They expected the full education for their children, instrumental music not just vocal music. Note that the website for Wilshire Crest features a photograph of students playing music. Now this will be a lie.
This is an act of pure arrogance and shows a complete disrespect For the entire school communities of Wilshire Crest and Laurel elementary schools. It sets what kind of a model for the students? Educators are told to model behavior for the students. This is a shining example of how not to treat people. Furthermore, it erodes the ability of students, parents, teachers, and the rest of the school community to trust the authority of the district. Why should the students trust the adults if they are not trustworthy?
Lausd loans 54 instruments to each school and many parents rent or buy instruments in the expectation that their student will receive instruction at school. They make an investment in their children’s education. Parents who invested in this way expected that they would receive a full years instruction. Should they feel betrayed or just deceived? Established programs mean a lot to a school community. Additionally, schools buy instruments to supplement what the district provides, so the school also has an investment. At Wilshire Crest, this consists of percussion instruments and a complete set of Orff instruments, not a small investment. Who has control of the budget for each school? Isn’t the principal supposed to have authority over the budget? Why is this not transparent?
It is a pure act of cowardice to lack the common decency, at the very least, to send the parents, staff, principals and students notice and explanation for this action, leaving instead the blame to land on the shoulders of the music teacher who has done nothing wrong. Steve Zimmer is the board member for Laurel, and Marguerite LaMotte was for Wilshire Crest. Surely Ms. LaMotte, an advocate for the arts, would have been very upset for the students. In her memory, this should be corrected as much as possible before the winter break. (This situation is exactly why her seat on the board needs to be filled ASAP by appointment.)
On Monday December 9th, Diane Lang was informed of this action. Her assigned day at Laurel Street is Friday. On Friday (December 13) she went to the school but could not inform the principal who was in an all day meeting off campus. She did inform the students that they will need to bring instruments this coming Friday to be returned.
On Wednesday, December 11th Ginny was informed. Ginny’s assigned day is Tuesday; therefore the students and parents have been unaware of the situation until today, it was six days… The principal at Wilshire Crest, Ms. Taylor, was only informed of this via an email and a phone call on Monday December 9th, and she let Ginny know in an email that she had been blindsided by this. This morning, I received a phone call from Jocelyn Duarte, president of the Wilshire Crest Elementary PTA, she is also furious, and told me that I do indeed speak for the school community.
I also have an email forwarded from Eloise Porter (LACESMA) after Ginny and I spoke to her last night: I will read some parts of that:
“The elementary instrumental music program has never been an ‘introduction to instruments’ program, but rather a sequential learning experience building to elementary orchestra and on to middle and high school bands and orchestras. The School Board passed a resolution the establish the arts as a core subject. In addition, they asked Deasy to provide a budget to support restoration of the arts program to 2008-9 levels. This recent action is definitely NOT the way to do it. To destroy established instrumental programs in Title I schools in the middle of the school year seems especially egregious, unnecessary, and totally ineffective in delivering music education.”
So the school communities should know that they are playing roulette with the population count due to Norm Day, if that actually is the trigger—which is unknown due to complete lack of communication. Wouldn’t this be part of Title One? If this is part of a school’s budget, isn’t there a process which must be approved by school committees? and changes also?
There is no time to respond. The speed in this time line implies a sneak attack. Just prior to winter break, so cannot communicate directly to anyone in authority. Scrooge couldn’t have planned it better.
(Cockroaches run when the light shines)
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