A group of dedicated and inventive parents, teachers, and arts professionals saved the arts education work of the Office of Visual and Performing Arts at the San Diego Unified School District yesterday in a 4-1 vote.
With much of the leg work done by Victoria Saunders’ homemade arts education advocacy web page, and huge support from dozens of others within the San Diego district, the school board chose not to cut any more dollars than had already been cut. Just a week ago, they were considering an elimination of the office.
The work of the SDUSD VAPA office is lynchpin in creating equal access to arts education for all students–regardless of income level. They work to ensure that teacher quality is high and that arts instruction is standards-based and sequential. They support schools, principals, arts teachers, and classroom teachers in making sure that the students these educators serve are getting the instruction they deserve. Its elimination would strike a blow at quality assurance and parity in arts education for students in classrooms.
The final takeaway for some wasn’t so specific: “Don’t mess with the creative kids.”