After delaying the discussion for two months, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved changes to the way its science and art programs are delivered in elementary school classrooms.
Under the proposal, which was presented in June by then-Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez, most art teachers will split their time between schools.
All students will receive 45 minutes of music instruction during their teachers’ release time, while kindergarten through second grade students will receive the same amount of art instruction. Students in third through sixth grades will receive science lessons.
Under their contract, each teacher is guaranteed a period in which to prepare lessons, grade papers and other duties that come with the job. This “release time” is filled with one of the elective classes.
District administrators say the change is prompted because declining student enrollment means that fewer teachers are needed.
“This is trying to right size,” said Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum and Instruction Lisa Aguerria-Lewis.
The change has been controversial from the outset, with teachers, parents and students saying it would fundamentally change their schools’ culture and would deprive older elementary students of continued art lessons.
The trustees have delayed making the decision over the course of three meetings.
“I think that’s a disservice to those students who want to continue their art studies,” Trustee Adam Scow said. “That’s a problem we have with the structure of it now, and I think that’s something we should look at improving in the years ahead.”
This picture could improve with incoming funds from Proposition 28, also known as the Arts and Music in Schools Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act, which requires that 1% of school districts’ state funding go to art and music education.
The new law means roughly $2.75 million annually for PVUSD, with the funds for its 16 elementary schools—which are determined based on student numbers—ranging from $53,501 at Mar Vista to $95,657 at Mintie White.
It will be up to individual schools to determine how to use their Prop. 28 funds.
The trustees also requested that the district’s Visual and Performing Arts committee plan out the next five years to include the five disciplines—dance, visual art, music, performing arts and media art.
