Public decries Easton Middle schedule changes

Easton Middle School will transition to a five-period day next year during which students will have 70 minutes in each core class, as opposed to the current 55-minute class periods. Related arts classes will also be 70 minutes long, but will vary from semester long, quarter long, or skinnies (4 1⁄2 weeks) long, according to an April 1 email from Easton Middle School Principal Jackie Valcik to parents of middle schoolers.

Band, chorus and theater classes would therefore be reduced from full-year programs to at most three-quarters of the school year with students taking turns in practicing at various times or semesters throughout the school year.

“Instead of students having one-third of their day in the arts or related arts fields, we will be having a schedule that will have skinnies or mini-sessions with related arts,” said Dr. Kelly Griffith, Talbot Schools superintendent at the April 17 meeting.

Upon request for further clarification about the schedule changes, Debbie Gardner coordinator of public relations and special programs for Talbot Schools, said Tuesday, “I’m sorry I do not have all of the details on that yet.”

School officials made schedule changes at Easton Middle as a result of low test scores on the PARCC exam. For state assessments from 2017 to 2018, 28% of seventh-graders in Talbot Schools achieved proficient math scores (a 7% increase from 2017). Only 3% of eighth-graders achieved proficient math scores in 2018 (compared to 7% in 2017). Just 29% of students who took the exam achieved a proficient score on the Algebra 1 assessment, with 36% of testing students scoring proficient on the Algebra 2 assessment.

Many concerned students, parents and alumni spoke during the April 17 public comment session against the schedule changes, expressing concerns about arts classes being less than a full year and also about longer class periods. They testified as to how band, theater and chorus classes offered through the school fosters students’ confidence, creativity, makes for competitive college applications, résumés and ultimately shapes career paths.

“It absolutely shaped my future into where I am today,” said Addie Groton Ruhl, Shore Projects office manager. ”If I had not participated in theater or choir, I would be on a completely different path.”

Ruhl is a product of Talbot schools, majored in theater design and production in college and spoke to the importance of keeping art education in schools.

Talbot County resident Graham Norbury is a parent of a seventh-grade student at Easton Middle School and questioned how students’ attention span would last during longer class periods.

“We already have students struggling to focus in the 55-minute blocks they are given,” Norbury said. “There’s a lot of disruption in classrooms. We’ve got to keep kids engaged so they’re interested in learning.”

He pointed to research suggesting students perform better when classes are broken down into smaller time periods. He also said Easton Middle offers a lot of programs that cannot be found at other schools in the area.

“If you take those (classes) away or you diminish them to the point where they’re no longer effective, what’s keeping the students at Easton Middle?” he asked.

Easton Middle art teacher Derek Enzor and the school’s principal, Jackie Valcik, both offered statements in favor of the schedule.

“... The new schedule will provide additional time in core content classes which teachers will utilize to provide more enrichment and intervention opportunities to address students needs and strengths ...” Valcik wrote.

Enzor shared how many students selected his art class next year and thanked the schools for their support.

Mary Branic has two children at Easton Middle and spoke during public comment to fight for the band program. She listed the band program’s numerous accomplishments and said she called every middle school on the Eastern Shore to see how other schools compare in managing their band programs.

Aside from one county who said it was complicated, from Cecil to Somerset County, Branic said all schools offer year-long band programs without interruption. Some are on a six-, seven- or even eight-period day while others operate on a five-period day with an “A-B” schedule. Some schools have five class periods plus a focus period where students who need extra help in academics can study.

“These schools make it work and understand the importance of arts programs in schools,” she said. “I’m here for the 20 percent of the EMS student body who is a part of this program...I am here asking you to protect one of the most successful, popular and competitive band programs on the Eastern Shore.”

Easton High School sophomore Sophie McGee said the school’s theater programs cultivate a passion for the arts, keeps students engaged, serves as a creative outlet and develops the literary aspect of education in portraying different characters and actions.

“I really, really support keeping theater all around,” McGee said. “I went from being that shy girl who didn’t even sing in the car with my mom to this past fall I played Maria in West Side Story. That’s really cool to think I can progress as a person and to move on with this in my life means a lot to me.”

As mentioned in the previous Star Democrat article titled, “Public testifies to protect the arts,” Easton High School junior Seth Wagner brought a petition initiated by classmate Brett Hutchinson with 4,200 signatures in favor of protecting theater, choir and band classes. The petition had 24 attached pages of comments providing reasoning behind keeping the programs.

“This is counterproductive,” Wagner said. “These classes that are being shrunk and cut down and not available for year-long classes actually have been proven time and time again to raise test scores in areas of math and reading.”

“...In Talbot County, we pride ourselves as leading the next generation of artists. I think if we make these changes to these classes, we are failing.”

Jacob Mueller, a professional in the arts industry and a 2013 Easton High graduate, said he was assigned at random to theater in the eighth grade. He said the course taught him about the human condition, social interaction and team building.

“It saddens me that some other students may not have the opportunity to all of the time that I had to study the arts,” he said. “I think it’s extremely important for the arts to have an equal weight as other core classes in the curriculum.”

In continuing theater classes throughout high school, as well as being a chamber choir singer for three years, Mueller said UMBC awarded him a talent-based scholarship where he went on to pursue theater design and production. He is now working as a project manager installing theatrical lighting systems in the Mid-Atlantic region.

“I am it. I came full circle,” Mueller said. “When I heard the arts were getting cut or ‘skinnied,’ it really struck a chord with me because that one art class, that one theater class, was the start of something very great.”

He asked the board to take time and really think over the decisions with the revised schedule for Easton Middle School.

“It’s important to look at the facts and listen to the people,” he said.

Eve Van Horn directs the EMS drum line and expressed concerns about the schedule as well.

“For band, it’s extremely important that they have all year,” she said. “...If they have a break, I know it’s going to be more difficult for them to get back into rotation and the regular schedule of things.”

She brought attention to the band and All Shore choir’s performances throughout each year, and the public’s expectations for a big theater program.

“It’s important that they have the time they need,” she said.

Van Horn was also concerned with TCPS’ expectations of teachers to offer middle school enhancements after school and advised against picking kids out of classes too.

Jennifer Wagner-Campbell said the school system has highly qualified teachers who are passionate and educated beyond what is required of them.

“Let them teach what they know,” she said, calling it a “slap in the face” to teachers who invest time, energy and are likely “in debt” to pursue what they love.

Facebook posts from late March suggested an Easton Middle School theater teacher was told he would be placed as a social studies teacher after the school’s theater program was rumored to be cut.

Easton High senior Josiah Sanders said, statistically, kids who are exposed to the arts score higher on standardized tests and pursue more challenging lifestyles.

Sanders is currently in the process of applying to the “most elite performing arts schools in the country,” and he feared that limiting arts classes for incoming students would hinder them from being career and college ready in the future.

“Set students up for success and do not limit arts at the middle school,” Sanders told the board.

“Theater is not a throw away class, neither is band or choir,” said Sarah Anthony, Easton High School sophomore. “...If the concern of our school system is our performance on the state assessment, then why not provide our teachers with the tools and strategies that engage our students to learn, rather than adding time to class periods.”

“This is about educating the whole child,” Anthony said. “I understand TCPS faces fiscal constraints that can limit course offerings, but if we are really educating the whole child then we cannot pick and choose which child.”

She suggested that students are not given enough incentive to learn and perform well.

“Rewards can make students strive for excellence, but they need to be rewards that students want to achieve,” she said. “Please don’t eliminate our incentive that promotes creativity, confidence and strengthens our character.”

Gwen Fike, parent to two children in the school system, also said additional class time will be difficult for students’ attention span. She said a letter addressed to parents discusses additional budgeting for more teachers to give enrichment and intervention into 70-minute blocks.

“In the ten years that our children have been in school, we’ve been promised enrichment and intervention and we never get to that because it isn’t necessarily budgeted and we’re putting more on the teachers.”

Fike said eliminating related arts as full-year course offerings is a mistake. Instead, she suggested keeping the sixth block for related arts and holding intervention classes for students who need assistance in bringing up test scores.

“We can’t keep doing this to our teachers; I don’t think it’s going to give you the results that you’re looking for,” she said.

One parent spoke in support of full-year arts programs at the school because it gives her children opportunities to play instruments and visit places that they could not afford otherwise. Several middle school students in the band program spoke in protection of the program, saying they were disappointed to hear about the cuts due to how hard they’ve worked so far.

A video recording and minutes of the Talbot County Board of Education meeting from April 17, and those held prior, can be found at https://talbotschools-md.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=1.