A “sea of people,” as noted by Chairman Sheridan, showed up during Citizens Speak at last night’s meeting of the school committee to show their support for and express their disappointment in the state of arts education in Milton.

Five residents addressed the committee before a standing room only audience. The primary spokesman, John Gillooly, made three points: the academic culture in Milton no longer values art as a critical part of a well rounded education, that the instructional resources in Milton pale in comparison to other towns (by way of comparison Mr. Gillooly cited Belmont. Belmont has 12 teachers in their Visual Arts program. Milton has 4.5), and that the result was a program that was “unacceptable.” (NOTE: The full text of Mr. Gillooly’s statement comes at the end of this post. Additional statements will be included as they become available.)

Mr. Gillooly spoke of the importance and prevalence of visual arts to everyday life. “Everything you see in the is room was created and invented by an artist,” said Gillooly. In addition to Gillooly 4 other parents spoke. One gave specific hours of arts instruction at a number of schools. The schools identified provided anywhere from 25 to 45 hours of instruction compared to Milton’s 10.5 per year. Others spoke of the critical, problem solving, and creative thinking skills that are developed by a comprehensive arts program. Once cited a recent article in Newsweek that laments the decrease in Americans ability, The Creativity Crisis. Another questioned why have an arts program if all that could be provided was 10.5 hours a year.

The school committee does not directly respond to issues raised during Citizens Speak. However, Ms. Bagley-Jones said “the visual arts are crucial. You’ve raised the awareness and we need to respond.”

Other business included but was not restricted to:

• A vote by the school committee on the MoA to form a Department of Facilities. The committee is endorsing the formation of the committee and agreeing to the structure as outlined in the MoA to have a department in town that will manage all capital improvements, maintenance and cleaning for the town’s buildings. The committee unanimously approved the agreement. You can learn more from this post. Tonight (10/21) the Board of Selectmen are scheduled to vote. Assuming approval, the Consolidated Facilities Committee will initiate a job search for Director of the department.
• Dr Drottar, Principal of Milton high School, reviewed SAT and Ap test performance. He acknowledged that SAT scores had slipped slightly compared to the state average. He explained that this might be attributed to the large number of students who take the test. When he reviewed the top 78% of those taking the test (which is closer to the percentage of state students who take the test) the results were aligned with the state average. In Milton 95-98% of the student body take the test. Similarly, Milton has a large number of students enrolled in AP classes. The school is among other things gong to renew efforts to establish an effective test prep program. Drottar noted that the SAT test is one that is very prep sensitive. Dr. Drottar’s presentation will be made available on the school web site shortly.
• Two student representatives were introduced to the committee, John Savino and Michelle Nabi, both seniors.
• The school committee approved the school trip schedule 5-1. Ms. Kelly was the No vote. She stated that she does not approve of students being taken of class for field trips.
• Margaret Gibbon, the MHS school nurse, announced that there would be a flu clinic on Monday, nov 8 from 4:00 – 700pm at the Pierce Middle School. The clinic is targeted at students in grades 6-12. Parents should bring an insurance card. She noted that staff would stay beyond the 7:00 pm time if the vaccine held out and people were still in line. She also said that the staff would be measuring the Body Mass Index (BMI) of students in grades 1,4,7, and 10 in order to comply with Massachusetts Health and Human Services requirements.

=========     TEXT OF MR. GILLOOLY’S STEMENT TO THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE        =========

A Cultural Problem – Speech by John Gillooly delivered to Milton School Committee, 10/20/2010

I am part of a growing group of parents and we view tonight as the beginning of what will be a sustained effort to not only restore a full-time visual arts program at the elementary level, but to push for a new, reinvented visual arts program for the district.

We began this process a couple months ago and began pouring over all of the available statistics for Milton and some of the surrounding towns. To be honest, when we began the process we anticipated that most or all of the towns would look just like Milton; with art programs decimated by the budget challenges and the pressures of MCAS. That’s NOT what we found.

We found Milton to be the outlier – the only town without a full-time art program and an art department that is less than half the size of almost every other town we studied. Other speakers will go over some of those numbers in more detail, but let me give you one that is particularly telling. We determined Belmont to be the most direct comparison town to Milton with almost exact student populations, teachers, spending per pupil, MCAS scores and demographics. They have four elementary schools (one of which is also Title 1), one middle school and one high school.

Milton has 4.5 teachers in the Visual Arts program. Belmont has 12.

Throughout this process, facing facts like these, we have been asking why? What is unique about Milton?

Knowing we would be presenting to you, my wife and I watched the last School Committee meeting, particularly the presentation from the Art Department. I actually found it to be fascinating TV by the way – and the exchange between Ms. Kelly and Ms. Hughes was like a revelation! I now felt like I had my finger on the problem – the culture.

Following the art presentation, Ms. Kelly asks Ms. Hughes how many students she sent to Art College last year, somehow inferring that the answer to the question would determine the success of the program? They went on to banter about the semantics of the question for minutes. I found myself frustrated and almost yelling at the TV. The question is….who cares?

When the Mathematics Department reports on the state and effectiveness of its program, do we ask how many kids went to Mathematics colleges?

When the football coach comes before you fighting for the life of the program, do you inquire as to how many NFL players his program has produced?

Of course you don’t, because that is not the mission and charge of these programs. The mission is to provide kids with a well-rounded education where they attain literacy in a wide array of subject areas. Armed with that comprehensive education, they will have the freedom to choose anything they want in college and in life.

The math program may spawn a Nobel prize winner and a future NFL great may come through the system, but stories like that are a bonus.

I would be more proud of a math system that consistently delivers young people competent in all of the aspects of math that are required for success in this world.

I appreciate a football program for building character, discipline, work ethic and teamwork skills.

We, as parents, view the visual arts as part of the CORE CURRICULUM. We expect graduates of this system to be literate in the visual arts.

I am a professional photographer. I work with folks in marketing, public relations, education, healthcare, advertising, fundraising, etc – and I would be very surprised if more than 3% of them went to Art College or majored in Fine Art. But they all work with images, design and graphics every day and their success partially depends on their literacy in these areas.

Everything you see in the is room was created and invented by an artist.

Art education is not teaching kids to draw and paint. It’s about teaching people to see, analyze, create and invent. It’s a way of thinking and there really is not another area of school that can fill that void.

We as a group recognize those examples as accepted truth. But somewhere along the line, the visual arts in this town eroded to the point where it is no longer a valued part of the core curriculum. It now seems to be an afterthought and the most vulnerable area of the annual budget process.

I know you all verbalize support and appreciation for the visual arts, but the state of the programs says otherwise.

I would like to close by reading the first page of the March 18, 2010 E-Blast:

(text of Superintendent’s E-Blast)

Now that is an example of a program that has survived and thrived through adversity, budget cuts and MCAS pressure.

The music program in Milton thrives because of a passionate leader who fights for music education, protects the program and is a champion for its students.

The reason I read you that E-Blast is because March is “Art in the Schools Month” as well. You won’t find a word about Visual Arts in that E-Blast. In Milton we celebrate “Music in the Schools Month.”

I know the natural inclination to this is to jump to defend yourselves – to provide explanations and excuses. But in the end, the explanations and excuses don’t matter.

The Visual Arts program is unacceptable.

I’m asking you to be honest with yourselves and with us. What it is about this system, from the School Committee level to Administration to the teachers, that has allowed the Visual Arts to deteriorate so badly.

And if you are being honest, am I correct about how the culture of this system is marginalizing the visual arts? And most importantly, Is it hurting our kids?