In my experience, sitting through local government meetings is generally dull. Not because the topics are unimportant or because the decisions are of little consequence but because the meetings lack the focus of drama or ritual. As a result, time passes slowly, comments by the public and elected officials are rooted in the personal, and formal decisions are seldom a surprise. This isn’t true at the Board meetings of the San Diego Unified School District.
The SDUSD meetings are unpredictable and they have been for years. They are known for the Board members talking over each other and expressing frustration with district staff leadership. Superintendents have seldom had the support of the full board over the past 10 years.
The special meeting held last Tuesday morning, the day after our arts education rally, had nearly 250 in attendance. This was a huge turnout for a meeting announced only the Friday before. Since I only knew 10-15 people in attendance I wasn’t sure if the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) would be well represented.
Things started surprisingly when the Board Chair altered the standard procedure by making a preliminary statement and inviting her 4 colleagues to each do the same before opening the microphone to public comment. They proceeded to tell us that this was the worst budget situation they’d ever seen, that legislators in Sacramento had to hear from the public about the importance of maintaining schools funding, and that they had been receiving incomplete budget/expense figures from staff so their ability to make informed choices was hampered. Then it got stranger. One of the members told us he was concerned many people were rallying for programs in response to rumors and not actual proposals. He specifically mentioned VAPA as one such area. This struck me as disingenuous because the meeting agenda had a single budget item, “2009-2010 Budget Development Discussion and Action on Proposed Solutions for a Balanced Budget” which left all possibilities open. Likewise, the board had already voted once in the months before to include VAPA in its Plan B cuts to balance the budget. We’d have to see how the meeting unfolded to know if his comments were an effort at political cover for his last vote against VAPA or for the votes he would cast later in the day.
Public comment began with nearly 10 straight speakers in support of VAPA and I only knew 2 or 3 of them. I thought this was a good sign. Everyone was limited to 1 minute because there were speaker slips from nearly 100 people. Even with a time limit, public comment ran for over 3 hours. VAPA supporters made the best showing of the day with athletics in a close second. (The proposal to eliminate all high school athletic teams was also on the table – or was that rumor too?)
Those of us that spoke in support of VAPA attended without planning who would make public comment or what each of us would say. We knew that a volume of speakers from across the community was just as important as the message. This loose approach resulted in VAPA speakers coming to the microphone throughout the entire several hours and each speaking with different evidence and facts. I reminded them that community programs like our SD Youth Symphony couldn’t fill the gap if they eliminated VAPA. We teach 500 students a year which is far far fewer than the 100,000+ students enrolled in SDUSD.
I left after 2 1/2 hours of public comment to be at our Mayor’s release of the 2008 San Diego Arts and Culture Economic and Community Impact Report. (You can download it here) It was a busy advocacy day. I received reports through the afternoon from colleagues that stayed at the school board meeting.
After public comment they took a break – one that everyone needed. Then the Board started making decisions and referencing the data provided by District staff. Apparently it got rather heated at points because the staff couldn’t provide accurate or up-to-date budget data. Instead of the customary sniping at each other on the Board, they went after the staff. Since I don’t know how school budgeting works, when I see the elected Board members complaining that they don’t have solid numbers from the “expert” staff I begin to wonder what is broken in the system or what agenda the staff/superintendent is trying to push through by limiting information.
Late in the afternoon after they’d made many decisions, including increasing class sizes, Board member Nakamura proposed VAPA be removed from the list of possible cuts for 2009/2010 because it had already seen mid-year cuts earlier in the winter. Her colleague DeBeck asked for athletics to be included in this proposal. A short discussion ensued in which the Board President Jackson expressed her desire to see all programs share in the cuts. Her argument did not prevail and for the first time the newest members of the Board, Barrera and Evans, voted with Nakamura and DeBeck in support of VAPA. Jackson opposed.
We, the public with a passion for arts education, had succeeded in convincing the Board to preserve the VAPA department for another year. I’m assuming that if they could vote NOT to eliminate VAPA at the meeting then the opposite is also true. Thank goodness we responded to rumors.
Really great entry and really great work.
Bravo!