Editor's note: This is the second in a three-part daily series examining the impact of budget cuts on Newburyport schools as the School Committee prepares to vote on next year's budget. Coming tomorrow, a look at the loss of language programs at the schools.
NEWBURYPORT — Five years ago, Aileen Maconi and Lisa Zaleski started teaching at Newburyport High School with hopes of expanding the arts program by offering more classes and creating a viable arts curriculum.
Five years later, while they have managed to improve some areas of the arts programs, budget cuts have stifled growth and beaten the program down year after year, they said.
"The structure of the program has come a long way," Maconi said while supervising a study period in the cafeteria, a mandatory "duty" that takes away preparation time for her own classes. "We have more usable work space, the administration listens to us in terms of giving us appropriate course load, and the arts are now part of the grade point average."
The arts, typically the first to go because the skills they impart are not formally testable in the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System that measures student achievement in the state, have been a cause for concern for Superintendent Kevin Lyons.
Lyons has spoken on the loss of cultural programming, especially at the elementary and middle school levels, and its effect on creating well-rounded students who can compete at the highest levels.
But because of cuts to the programs and classes over the last five years, Zaleski and Maconi find themselves teaching classes outside of their training, monitoring study halls and finding ways to do more with less.
As they try to push the arts program to the next level, they are constantly worried about what the next budget season will bring.
Teachers strained
Visual and performing arts are still part of the curriculum at Newburyport High, due in large part to the commitment of the teachers outside of the classroom, donating supplies and time when the district can't reimburse them.
The drama club has persevered as an after-school program led by Zaleski and won its first award at the Massachusetts High School Drama Guild Competition in several years.
Despite the good, Zaleski said the teachers are the ones suffering the most.
"Everyone's plates are full," Maconi said. "From grading to submitting work for competitions and developing curriculums for classes I haven't taught before."
Currently, Maconi, a visual arts teacher, is teaching out of her license area in a computer animation class in the technology department.
Zaleski, a performing arts teacher and the department head, notices the biggest changes came when the arts and explorer subjects (subjects not taken every day, such as music and gym class) started being cut from the elementary and middle school level.
"Kids come to me with fewer skills," Zaleski said. "There is no middle school choir anymore. Kids come to me and can't read music, and that is a skill you really want to build when they are young, just like foreign language."
Zaleski said classes, such as playwriting and dance, have been cut from the performing arts while visual arts classes have had sections cut, meaning there are fewer opportunities for kids wanting to take those courses.
Due to scheduling, advanced classes such as photography run during the same period other advanced classes like history meet, forcing students to make tough decisions.
"It just puts kids in an awful position," Zaleski said. "They have to choose between something they love and something they need for their core requirement."
More with less
For Maconi and Zaleski, both have poured more of their own time and supplies into their curriculum to make up for what the administration and district cannot afford.
When Maconi started, she redid the darkroom by adding cameras and equipment from her personal collection, and fixed the clay wheel on her own.
Zaleski, who has young children at home, says she oftentimes spends 10 to 12 hours at the school as the director of the school plays. This year, the club performed one fewer play than it has in the past.
Other school staff members, such as Stephanie Williams, have also donated their time to make sure the arts do not suffer.
"Stephanie teaches Spanish and video and is working on offering dance after school, where the class was cut," Zaleski said.
Another strain of teachers of the arts is staying competitive in a district that has been forced to cut positions year after year. Being certified in the arts is not enough to keep your job anymore, as Maconi found out this year when she was given the computer animation class. She is currently in classes to become certified in other technological areas of art, which would make her safer if more teacher cuts came down.
"Teachers who are teaching out of licensure get bumped and cut," Maconi said.
Exposure diminished
Between trying to stay competitive professionally and finding the time to prepare for the course load, both women say the students' exposure to the arts is diminished.
"When we have time to prepare, we are able to push them to follow their creative journey," Zaleski said. "The struggle is to allow the student to have a voice, and we really have to be on our game everyday to achieve that."
Maconi is preparing for a gallery opening that a group of students has organized. Room 118, off the cafeteria where School Committee meetings are held, will soon be turned into a working and professional art gallery in collaboration with the Newburyport Art Association.
The drama club recently wrapped up its last performance of the year, the musical "The Pajama Game."
While cuts have bruised the arts program, both teachers feel the program is doing well for those who are able to take the classes, with some students still going on to study the arts in college.
Both teachers are unsure how many students who are unable to take arts within the school day venture outside of the school to private art classes or music lessons.
"If a student is really serious about art or music, they will take classes outside of school anyway," Zaleski said. "If they are serious, they find it elsewhere."
Maconi does not foresee drastic cuts this year, and both teachers are looking forward to maintaining the current level next year with the only change being to computer animation, which will now be considered an art class rather than a technology class.
"We just feel we are always behind in classes," Zaleski said. "We are stretched thin."
