Last year, the school board of Lansing, Michigan, voted to eliminate music, art, and physical education from its elementary schools. It was a budget-cutting measure. Where were the “reformers”? Silence. Do you remember the strong statement from Secretary Duncan? Neither do I.
After the teachers of the arts and physical education were laid off, the job of teaching those subjects was assigned to the regular classroom teachers. No specialists, no art teachers, no music teachers, no gym teachers.
Remember that old idea about equality of educational opportunity? This isn’t it.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Seems like the link to the original story is lost. Any way to find it?
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This is just the beginning, as more and more school districts are taken over by for-profit organizations and more public schools are dismantled. When the for-profits are the only game in town, those without deep pockets will be in deep trouble.
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This was only for district schools right? The charter schools will still have these programs as they are better run.
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Charter schools are better run!? Where’s the data or evidence for that assertion?
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I would wager a guess that Ali is being facetious.
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The not-so-curious case of the charterite/voucherite/privatizer shills and trolls that visit this blog that aren’t barking in the night—or registering on this blog their usual moral outrage and pearl-clutching dismay and couch-fainting discomfort at what is, quite literally—
A flagrant denial of choice. The choice that all parents and students and communities should have to a fully-resourced and well staffed neighborhood public school.
Their silence is not just deafening. It is consent.
And consent of the worst sort. The kind of silence that Martin Niemöller wrote these profound lines about:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
*Martin Niemöller was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.*
Link: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392
Why is this so important? Jim Hightower put it well:
“If you don’t speak out now when it matters, when would it matter for you to speak out?”
The edupreneurs and edubullies and edufrauds and accountabully bean counters only speak when “it’s all about the kids!” aka dipping deep their hands in that pot of gold called $tudent $ucce$$ at the end of the “education reform” rainbow.
But they’re no dummies. For example, for Bill Gates and his children, Lakeside School. For OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN, Lansing, MI.
“Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, Utters another.” [Homer]
The Greeks already knew the type. Pay no attention to the rhetoric. Watch their deeds and follow the money trail.
😎
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I do what I can and try to inform every parent I run into. I am sure I sound like a nut by thanks to this website and the links provided and can give rapid data that otherwise I would have to go find myself.
Anyhow, I even went to the local RNC convention and told the reps in this area what was happening. I couldn’t make it to the state. I had to choose between an advocate for my autistic son and trying to be heard in Forth Worth when the crowd is so anti public school. There are RNC members that are actually working on a way to figure out how to pay home schooling parents to educate their own children.
I am a little on board with the idea myself due to the fact that I have done it all. Disabled children more then ever are home schooling due to crumbing services offered in school and even less worse if offered at all in charter schools. Replacement therapy schools are more like a private and insurance back alternative, but then your child, is segregated from their peers. Only parents willing to spend their days, calling the school districts bluff to not allow duo enrollment (legally ISD can’t for disabled students receiving therapies or tutoring during school hours) and drive their child to a fro.
I am a parent who has done a lot trying to get the help I needed for my autistic son. I started in public school, and was intimidated and ignorant about asking for the appropriate services. So I thought I would join a homeschool cohort and that was great academically, but restrictive and expensive to give up an income. My son made great gains academically. I then tried a charter school with private/ insr. paid ABA provider attending charter school with my son. It was OK but, there were limits on what the ABA could address academically in the charter. The charter offered little. I tried another charter and it was a disaster.
On top of that I lost my current health care provider ( thank you Obama) and that meant I lost the ABA assistance too. Charters would not help and delayed, delayed, delayed to the point that I feared for my child’s physical safety. I pulled my son in haste, I should have fought. But legally unless you go through due process … you have no case and only a 20% chance to win anyways. So finally, found a replacement therapy school facility. Again restrictive and my son was basically the most capable student at the facility. I was told it would be best to return him to regular public school. Regular public schools have been doing everything they can to thwart the expenses incurred by special needs children and bring up skills within normal ranges as much as possible. I find over all ISD’s set the bar low so that FAPE would still apply. After all under FAPE is a standard as petty much set by the district providing services and districts steer non advocating parents in a desire direction that they justify meets the child’s needs. So it is up to well educated parent who can tell the difference in educational need & therapy type related services to know what is possible and appropriate. You almost have to hang out in therapy clinic a lot to know better that you are being shorted. I don’t even think the school districts really many school districts get what really needs to happen for each special needs students. They just have a really hard time with the price tag that they are always denying. So it is up to parents to fight to raise the bar for others in public schools. This is and expensive time consuming, emotional/ traumatic process, as advocates need to be involved.
So in a way I can see a justification for home schooling parents to want to skip the drama and get paid for what they do themselves for their own children. I does not help all children though and that is a problem when you look at the discrepancy and care special education students should receive over all. This goes for regular and charter schools as well in regards to education regular Ed students.
Only other school teachers in the RNC got it. Teachers that support public education in the RNC are treated like pariah. We bleed red in everything else, but in regards to funding and supporting regular regular public schools being made the best they can be. Again, I have done it all and I am sure I sound like a nut, but I am giving it my all. I do believe the message is slowly creeping out that public schools are good and charters over all are not a good thing for children or the community. We don’t need another shoe string supplied college prep for young students. We do need more magnet type school that offer specialized vocational programs and schools with more flexibility to help with special needs/ populations. Charters however should be offered under time limited and goal derived circumstances. Charters should be shut down if they are unable to deliver what they promise.
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For a long time now, it’s been like watching a country slowly commit suicide.
Evidently the pace of commitment is picking up …
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Did about 70 comments disappear?
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Oh, California has been that ways ever since I went to school in the 70’s. Loved recess and it kept students behaving well since no one wanted to have to stand on the fence during recess for misbehaving. California elementary teachers have no prep periods. They have a 10/15 minute recess every 90 minutes that children have to utilize by law. CA Teachers have to have taken two years of PE in college and a semester of teaching elementary physical education. I felt spoiled coming from teaching in California to teaching in Texas with specials being offered and a teacher prep time.
In California, the way we dealt with PE in California was each teacher took a rotation to teach a skill. Every three weeks we rotated classes per grade level of course. We taught a skill for 20 minutes. Because children go to recess more frequently and just about every school had multiple grade level assigned playgrounds. Ever class room maintained a ball box and sets of jump ropes. We taught children how to organize games quickly themselves, before going to recess. They even were taught rock ,paper sizzor’s in order to figure out disputes among themselves. By the times kids hit the black top they knew where they where going and what they were doing. Schools also had more teachers assistance available on campus, so many time their was one rotating teacher duty to supervise teacher aids , who were supervising children on the black top and the field.
I feel bad for Texas students. When I first came out in 2004, students didn’t have any recess except if it was given to them at PE or cupcakes for elementary students. Texas was nuts over the food of minimal nutrition. We weren’t even allowed to do any type of baking project in which the students took food make in class home. Texas didn’t have class room pet either. Anyhow, Thing have improved some with student having to receive at least 180 minutes of unstructured recess/ PE. 4th grade and under.
What kills me though is how charter schools get away with having children 3rd grade and above call passing periods recess or unstructured time. even more so I hate seeing children seeing PE time taken up with sitting a good 15 or 20 minutes waiting for someone to stop figeting. I notice too in Texas the children are unable to organized themselves quickly for games and sports. They spend most their 20 30 minutes of daily recess chasing each other.
Swings are disappearing too, and that is bad. It is good for young brains to feel the swinging motion and experience physics. Not to mention the fact you need to be smart enough to figure out when you are too close to a swing for personal safety. Also too,swings reinforce counting 1:1 strategies as rules are set in place for the trading of swings after an establish amount of swings. Finally, I am starting to come across older children that do not know how to swing or keep the motion going. These kids are apart of the children who can’t ride a tricycle or bike also because they were raised in apartments or are simply economically disadvantaged..
As a teacher I like having a prep time to collaborate and make copies, however I feel more frequent recess for elementary age school children is more important. After all it was fun to work in art with science, math and social studies, music math and other daily memonic songs for other subjects. It broke up the daily grind. Art, dance, computers labs, library, tutoring, were routinely offered after school on a rotating basis in certain class rooms for free. So the kids didn’t go without these extra activities. Sorry for the long response. I think for Michigan and other states looking to save on cost, I do think it will be so bad so long as children get the brakes they need. It will be a lot tougher on teachers though. Administration will have to hire a regular classroom permanent sub for each campus to deal with teachers needing to go to personal administration meetings and IEP/ ARD meetings too.
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But elementary music teachers prepare students to be in instrumental ensembles when they are older (what is a key signature? Why do we write notes on four spaces and five lines? What is tempo?)—they learn about the history of music around the world, how to read it, its elements. I admire your positive attitude, but music is not just singing jingles to help kids learn core subjects. If that’s all it required, I’d have never gone into it. I play piano daily. I arrange music for the students to play on instruments. I play guitar. I have a chorus.
Music is a language. It’s not just a vehicle for having fun. Cast it aside, fine—but an education without it is much less rich.
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No, I agree with you. The kids in California end up within afterschool music programs and sometime for special assembly projects. It is mostly presented after 6th grade though.
I wish we could double the teaching staff, assign two teacher per grade level. An Am entering teacher and a late morning / PM teacher. I would have one teacher teach core subject in the morning while the other worked intensely with under performing student. They would switch in the afternoon in there roles. I would keep specials in place and even expand how it worked, so teachers could collaborate and work on project together.
The student school day would expand to 8/9or even 10 hours per day. Also there would be vans of private companies rotating students to and from school to take students to dental appointment or dive up dental/ orthodontic caravans. Private venders would take children to activities such as swimming, gymnastic, dance, karate, cooking, sewing, soccer, football/ base ball practice and even specialized therapies for special needs children.
All US children would have access to personal growth activities. Teaching would be a fun a joyful profession to go into again. There would be lots of administrators too, to over see the transition and monitor venders for professionalism. Parents would be happy to be able to come home and just be able to enjoy their kids taking them to evening services and other family activities rather than trying to figure out common core math (LOL). Parents could still be involved in school as much as they wanted. Anyhow, its just a personnel wish and dream.
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You are correct about the 1970s cuts in arts education, with massive cuts hitting art supervisors first.
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This and the proposed Ohio cuts (vote today) are part of the “outcomes only” agenda of state legislatures and governor’s and Chambers of Commerce who do not see these school-based activities as necessary for jobs, jobs, jobs.
This week the Business Courier in Cincinnati had the front page headline: “$91,000 for a Degree in Poetry?” The editorial was an account of the virtue of not majoring in English. If you want to be hired. Major in marketing instead, You can use your “skill set” there.
This rhetoric and way of thinking about the worth of a college degree has been present in Bill Gates’ public talks for years. He is an authority, a college drop-out. The same theme converted to policy is present in Arne Duncan’s call for colleges and universities to provide metrics that are the equivalent of return on investment stats for their graduates,
The research (reference not handy) shows that students who earn a liberal arts degree move up the income ladder by the fifth or sixth year after graduation to about the same salary range as many (but not) graduated who enter the STEM professions.
Cuts in arts education were documented before these new state-level actions. In the 2011 MetLife survey, 23% of teachers reported that during the past 12 months, there had been reductions or eliminations of arts and music and these were greatest in schools with more thatn two-thirds minority students, 30%, versus 19% in other schools.
Cuts continue and the silence of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and national associations of arts and physical educators is striking, but not unexpected.
The National Endowment for the Arts has an interest in education only insofar as schools offer a venue for artists to find work, primarily on short-term projects. Schools pay for those temps-in-school art programs. They cost less than a full-time certified arts teacher and allow the school to say “arts education is taken care of.” A little dab will do you–unless you can prove your program increases scores in reading and math and is more cost effective than other ways of doing that.
State and local arts councils serve as marketers and broker for these gigs. In effect, there are “two worlds” of “providers”–teachers with professional credentials and free-lance artists. They compete for time and resources. Some free-lancers try to fashion a “career” as an itinerate “teaching artist.”
This is a longstanding problem about which I have written since the late 1960s when NEA was figuring out what to do about education. The new agency piloted the first artist-in schools programs. The programs were found to be problematic for schools and the artists, but they nevertheless have been allowed to flourish for over fifty years.
Unlike the mandate for National Science Foundation, Congress had not provided any explicit way for NEA to be supportive of arts education in school. That changed a bit in the early 1980s, but marketing these job opportunities for artists remains a higher priority for the National Endowment for the Arts than serving as a strong advocate for systematic arts education is schools. That is setting aside (for this post) the long history of NEA fighting for its own survival given a record of funding (or more often seeming to fund) artists who insult the public.
So, in addition to the troubled history of the arts in American public life, the idea that the “arts are not a driver of jobs” makes it easy for these subjects to cut. That position has also led NEA and others to engage in elaborate calculations of the benefits of arts-related enterprises ( e.g., Richard Florida) primarily because claims about the “intrinsic value” of the arts are overwhelmed by the undisputed virtues of economic gain.
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Great info … thanks
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Ohio and Michigan are just the beginning of CCSS and Testing destructiveness. We were warned about the cost.
One of Dr. Ravitch’s postings : As Poverty Grows, the Claims of “School Reform” Fade
10/24/13
Common Core: Exorbitant Price Tag
http://www.stopcommoncoreny.com
The unfunded mandates associated with the Common Core are open-ended in areas such as professional development, new textbooks and instructional materials, testing, and data-tracking systems. A recent study shows implementation will cost $16 billion or more nationwide, with about 90 percent of this paid for by states and local districts, despite the $4.35 billion Race to the Top grants. The Common Core fuels a money pot of tax dollars going to pre-selected vendors. And every dollar spent for Common Core implementation is one less available for arts programs, sports programs, and other school activities. But the main burden of these unfunded Common Core mandates will fall upon the NY taxpayers
No Compromise A Foundation for America/Donna Garner 9/28/2012
http://nocompromisepac.ning.com/profiles/blogs/states-beginning-to-rebel-against-common-core-standards-from
“Common Core implementation cost estimates vary between $16 and $60 BILLION dollars that will not be available from the federal government given current debt levels of $16 TRILLION dollars and the state deficits that many states have accumulated.
Intellectual in 2/12said $15.8 billion
http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/library/chart-graph/common-core-implementation-costs
Cost of standardized testing cost states $1.7 Billion a Year”
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/11/29/13testcosts.h32.html
We could retain special area teachers if we didn’t have to squander it on non essentials like the CC and testing.
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The rest of the story…
http://michiganradio.org/post/art-music-and-gym-teachers-get-ax-lansing
““The Superintendent is receiving calls from arts groups all over the state saying, ‘Why are you cutting the arts?’” says district spokesman Bob Kolt. “But it’s just not true…we’re contracting out those services to community artists.”
Kolt says the district will bring in about 10-20 “contractors” to help elementary classroom teachers with art, music and gym instruction.
It’s not enough to replicate the 50 teachers who’ll be laid-off in those areas. But it will give classroom teachers an extra hand from time to time, and even provide kids with more “hands-on” arts learning, says Kolt.
“We’re going to take some of these community arts programs and put them in schools, rather than have a lot of uncertified art, music, and P.E. teachers,” he says.
Right now, only half the current art, music, and gym teachers are certified in those subjects, says Kolt.
Some of those who are certified could be kept on as “contractors,” he adds.
Kolt suggests other possible “contractors” could include artists from local studios, or even a couple drop-in lessons from the curator at the Broad Museum in East Lansing.
He says he doesn’t know how much money contractors will be paid.
But whether a former art teacher-turned-art-contractor could make a living in their new job “is a good question.”
Kolt says the district superintendent wants the new program up and running before this year’s graduation.
“
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More the rest of the story…
http://michiganradio.org/post/after-cutting-arts-teachers-schools-adjust-new-normal-lansing
“I asked three teachers what they would tell another district’s teachers or administrators, if that district was considering following Lansing’s example and cutting art, music and PE teachers.
Each of them said they feel bad for the teachers who lose their jobs.
But none of them came down hard on the “don’t do it” side.”
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As a member of the bargaining team who was faced with the Faustian bargaining of sacrificing planning time at the H.S. level and eliminating Arts, Music PE specialists at the elementary (who were providing planning release time for elem. teachers) OR the District slidiing into the red financially and risk a STATE takeover and placement into the failing Educational Achievement Authority, our “union” voted to sacrifice our planning in order to save the district. Our alternative to “save” the District a 15 percent paycut which would have rolled back salary gains and taken us back to 1970 level pay. The blame directly falls not on the teachers or even our administrators, but the plan of our Republican legislators to follow the logic of Grover Norquist and “starve the beast”. Except it is not starving the government, but starving public education and, in particular urban schools, so they can destroy public schools and turn them over to corporate entities. It is a massive betrayal of the tradition of public education that is engrained in our democracy.
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