Arts programs affected by MCCSC budget cuts

No paintbrushes, scripts or musical instruments will be needed for extracurricular activities during the 2010-11 school year at Bloomington public schools.

Changes to the Monroe County Community School Corporation teacher contract changes resulted in stipend cuts for extracurricular and co-curricular activities, including music and arts programs. With a successful and supported referendum on the November ballot, these activities have a chance of being restored for the 2011-12 school year.

But this still leaves the upcoming school year empty.

“I was absolutely stunned,” said Janis Stockhouse, director of bands at Bloomington High School North. “It was, like, shock and awe — flabbergasted.”

Stockhouse said her students often spend class periods practicing music for participation in parades and concerts.

“What are we going to do with our music classes?” Stockhouse said. “These kids have been spending years learning to play their instruments. It’s about playing the music at a really high level, but now they’ve taken away that.”

The students do community service work such as painting murals, visiting professional studios to speak to successful artists and going on trips to create art.

With reduced funding, it will be more difficult to bring artists to students, said Diane Davis-Deckard, who sponsors the National Art Honors Society, a club made up of about 40 to 60 juniors and seniors nominated by art instructors.

“I teach them the basics, and I try to introduce them to as much as possible — but I can’t introduce them to enough in terms of really actually being able to talk to people of success,” Davis-Deckard said. “Yes, you can pull them into the classroom, but it’s not the same as if we go into their studio on a weekend and artists can spend a lot of time.”

Francesca Sobrer, director of theater at Bloomington North, said she does not see her extracurricular activity as simply costumes and reading lines with enthusiasm, but that she essentially teaches “human interaction.”

“In this class, you learn how to look someone in the eye and talk to them, you learn how to present yourself in public and you learn how to get a gauge on your own confidence and comfort level,” Sobrer said. “That is going to help them for the rest of their lives.”

Donna Stevens, an education professor and former MCCSC employee, has a daughter who recently graduated from the Bloomington school system. Stevens said her daughter was extremely involved in school activities.

“Learning doesn’t happen in a classroom,” Stevens said. “As much as we’d like to think it does, it’s not where the learning happens. It is in the application of those ideas that you hear in the classroom and put into practice in your life, and you do that in these extracurriculars.”

As a teacher, Sobrer said her extra pay for supervising an after-school activity acted as a financial boost and a sign of the value of the help.

With the November referendum still up in the air, the community has been trying to stay active in spreading the word about the issue and raising money.

Stevens said there are Facebook groups to gather support and provide information.

These support groups in turn provide organization within the community.

“We need to find ways to raise funds or more critically look at ... how are these tax dollars being spent,” Stevens said. “And do we as a community value education enough to say ‘I want my tax dollars going towards education’?”

Davis-Deckard said she thinks the community will find a way to help the situation.

“My feeling about the referendum is that if it’s not passed, things are going to get significantly worse — and then it’s not just the schools that are in trouble, it’s our community that’s in trouble,” Sobrer said. “Serious trouble.”