I'm Not Sure, But I Think We May Have Touched A Nerve

One of the Indian River School Board members, Mrs. Donna Mitchell, has responded to our concerns about the future of the Southern Delaware School of the Arts.

Her letter to the editor in today's WAVE newspaper (We need to be looking out for the overall good of public schools) reads like an angry response, to me. My guess is that she was hurt or insulted by the volume and force of mail she has gotten from parents worried about a threat to the school.

I'm concerned that what started out as a good idea with honorable intentions has now turned into a spoiled child who looks down on her sister schools as inferior.

I assume that she is responding to what was written in private letters to her. Most of what has appeared in the papers, and what was said at the School Board meeting, was very respectful. In her response, Mrs. Mitchell paraphrases several letters that she says she has received. She has focused, in her response, on issues that I think are secondary, but I will assume they are important to her.

As I read these letters, I sense that parents like having their children involved in art school because their children are having difficulty integrating socially in the public schools or are unwilling to have their children participate in the diversity of 21st century America.

Wow. That is rather a sweeping generalization, and doesn't at all reflect our experience. But I'll forgive her that.

Mrs. Mitchell goes on to quote dollar figures, student/teacher ratios, and class sizes. I'd have to look more closely at the data -- with help from someone qualified to interpret that data -- before responding to the thesis she puts forward, that the District spends too much on the "spoiled" families that have kids in SDSA.

Finally, Mrs. Mitchell offers a spirited defense of athletics in education.

Physical Education leads to healthier bodies and improved behavior in schools. Do you realize that removing sports would increase the dropout rate far greater than if arts were removed and despite what you may think, many of our student athletes are excellent students and some even take art and play in the band.

I had heard from some other parents that Mrs. Mitchell was the prime force behind the proposals to do away with SDSA, and that she was doing so in favor of spending on more sports fields. I had questioned this notion. I didn't believe that a School Board member would be likely to take such as position.

After reading this letter from Mrs. Mitchell I have a feeling that I may have been wrong. She does sound like a person who wants to close our school in favor of more "traditional" athletic programs. Not that she wasn't exposed to the arts, apparently.

For your further information, I was in the band, chorus and my class play. I also participated in sports. I believe our schools should and do offer some of everything. That's what public education is all about. When a parent wants specialization they should look to private schools.

So. Here we have a member of the school board advising Karen and I to move our two bright productive students -- and their share of funding from a neighboring school district -- out of her district and put them in private school.

Well. I suppose we can think about that.

A Report from the 2006 Delaware Junior All-State Chorus Concert

We spent part of this weekend in upstate Delaware. On Saturday, Colleen performed as part of the 2006 Delaware Junior All-State Chorus. The All State Chorus is organized by the Delaware Music Educators Association. They do a great job.

The concert was held at Dickinson High School. It was preceded by two full days of rehearsal at Springer Middle School. Both are about an hour and a half to our north. That meant early mornings for parts of our family for several days last week.

Karen helped drive Colleen and her fellow chorus members from the Southern Delaware School of the Arts up to rehearsal on Thursday. She was also along as a chaperone/teacher. They left a bit before 5 a.m. On Friday, other parents did the driving, but I had to have Colleen out of the house at around 5 to get her to the rendezvous site.

Earlier in the week, I'd had meetings over in Washington DC. That called for me to head out at about 5 a.m. on Tuesday. I'm getting too old for this.

I had meetings upstate Friday afternoon, so I picked Colleen up from Springer after rehearsal and we met Karen and Christina at a motel jus north of the Route 1/Route 95 interchange. We passed the evening spending hundreds of dollars at Christiana Mall and slept-in a bit on Saturday before taking Colleen up to Dickinson for more rehearsal prior to the Concert.

The theater at Dickinson is a grand place and boasts one of the best examples left in this country of the old Theater Organs that used to grace America's movie palaces. According to the Dickinson Theater Organ Society, this instrument was built in 1928 for a theater in Philadelphia and was featured on local radio for many years. It was in disuse for several decades before being donated to the high school in 1968.

Christina and I went up for a closer look. These things are fascinating. We were treated to a short performance on this instrument before the choral concert. I love the deep, earth-shaking but smooth bass tones that these old pipe organs can produce.

The All State Junior Chorus sounded wonderful. They sang a mix of traditional choral and modern works. There was a Nigerian folk song, a traditional American folk song, and a Serbian gypsy song. They sang jazz and classical. They were accompanied by grand piano and used
a small set of tubanos for the Nigerian piece.

Afterwards, we wiped away proud-parentness from our cheeks, took pictures, and headed home.

I Guess I Seem a Bit Single-Issue Focused Lately, Huh?

I am sorry about that. But the Indian River Schools issue has been a bit central to us lately.

I am pleased to report that My Letter to the Editor did make it into the Cape Gazette yesterday. Yay.

Update: Letters to the Editor

My letter to the editor to the WAVE this week did not make it into the paper. I'm not sure if this is because I sent it in too late or because of a glitch with the "contact us" form.

I have submitted it to the Cape Gazette as well and have sent it off to the School Superintendent and asked her to deliver copies to the School Board members.

There was good coverage of the issue in the WAVE, however, including a full story, and two letters to the editor (Don't tell us that we are a program, not a school and Mitchell owes SDSA an apology).

I was glad to see the WAVE reporter note that there was "A crowd of approximately 600 people, split into two rooms," rather than the "more than 50" people originally reported.

I think I know where that earlier, lower number came from. I can see a reporter asking a school district official how many people were at the meeting:

"I don't know, we didn't count them."

"Well, can you give me an estimate?"

"No."

"Well, were there more than 50?"

"Yes, I guess it would be accurate to say that."

And, as a result, that "estimate" became part of the lead of several newspaper stories and made it into the Associated Press version of the story, which is what most of the radio news readers "rip and read" for their local news.

Another Message for the Indian River School Board

I have sent the following as a letter to the editor to the WAVE newspaper. I think. The WAVE's Letter to the Editor page was acting odd the other night; when I hit "submit," it didn't go to a thank you" page. It stayed on the submissions page. We'll see if this letter made it into the paper.

My attention was caught last week by a quote from one of the Indian River School Board members about the Southern Delaware School of the Arts (SDSA). The Board member is quoted as saying that the arts programs at SDSA are like “dessert” and that the Board should concentrate on providing only that which is required by law as they consider how to cut the district’s budget.

Setting aside, for the moment, questions about how the district has arrived at the point where such considerations are necessary, I have to say that to hear a member of any school board accept the notion of limiting the opportunities and education offered to our children is deeply troubling.

The arts, as an integrated part of a broader academic curriculum, as they are at the Southern Delaware School of the Arts, are anything but “dessert.” They are, in fact, the vegetables and spices that make the meal both healthier and tastier. Fully integrating the arts and academics should be the rule, rather than an exception. Years of high test scores and, more importantly, the evidence of the well-rounded, academically achieving, and well-prepared students produced by the School of the Arts bear this out.

I am worried by an elected School Board member advancing the idea that we owe the children only the few “R’s” required by law. As parents, as the adults of the community, we have a sacred responsibility to provide our children, and all of the children of the community, a full and fully rounded education. To approach this duty with any notion of limiting that education in any way would be criminally short-sighted.

Rather than considering limiting the extent to which the arts are integrated into education, the Indian River School Board should seek every opportunity to expand the integration of arts and academics. The Southern Delaware School of the Arts offers a strong proof of that concept and a successful model to follow and on which to build.

I've tried to send this to the WAVE because that's where the Board member's quote appeared. I may also shoot it off to the other papers.

A Walk Around The Point

Yesterday was a bright, warm and sunny day and it seemed a great day for a hike around the point of Cape Henlopen. I had been out to the point last week-end for a few minutes and took some shots of the Lighthouse on the inner breakwater of the Harbor of Refuge. I wanted to have an extended photographic hike, get a little exercise, and breathe some fresh air.

Christina, who enjoys occasional beach-combing jaunts with me, agreed to come along and we headed out for the State Park.

We choose to make the walk from the ocean side around to the bay side. It was low tide, with slanting afternoon sunlight, a hard flat low-tide sand strand for walking, and small waves lapping the shore.

We found good pebble deposits, small crabs washed ashore and left floundering on their backs by the waves, and a few seashells. As usual, we were on the lookout for Conch shells, but had no luck. I don't think this quite the right time of year.

We enjoyed a walk up the sand spit and around the point. We were treated to good views of the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse and an ever-changing beach/sea interface. The gradual transition from ocean beach to bay beach reaches its head at a spot that forms the point of the Cape itself. Conflicting tides from ocean and bay seem to meet in a confusion of water and sand. From there, we walked into low sunlight that cast things into sharp relief.

As we left the point, we looked back to see the Cape May/Lewes Ferry heading out between the Cape and the lighthouse for its run to New Jersey. We considering running back to the point to see if we could get that rare close-up view, but we'’d gone too far to be able to make it back in time.

Low tide on the inside of Cape Henlopen reveals broad sand flats that, at other times of day, are thriving shallows. We could see where the waves had formed tiny ridges in the sand. Fish egg casings were washing in the water. There were a few clams still sticking out of the sand; we couldn't tell if they were dead or just very patient.

I enjoyed the opportunity to repeat several views of the lighthouse that I'd taken at high tide a week before.

The lighthouse at high tide.


The same at low tide.


We had an hour'’s hike, enjoyed the sunshine, and brought home smooth pebbles and colorful shells to add to our collection.

Visiting Downtown Milton

I took a short walk in Downtown Milton this morning, wandering along and photographing the Governor's Walk, which follows the Broadkill River through the center of town. It was good for a short photo set. I particularly enjoyed taking pictures of the spillway.

Interim Update

The most recent Coastal Point newspaper was not on-line when I posted last night on this subject. Their story on the Board meeting (School board hears from arts supporters) adds some helpful details.

Update: News Coverage of SDSA and Indian River School Board

Just a quick update. The strong showing of support by parents and students of SDSA at last night's Indian River School Board meeting has generated more media attention.

Stories appeared last night and this morning on WMDT TV (47) and WBOC TV (16).

There was also a very interesting story in the WAVE newspaper (SDSA program left intact for now, officials say) which included some very troubling remarks from one Board Member, Donna Mitchell, who is quoted as comparing the arts core curricula at SDSA to "dessert:"

"I'm kind of a basics person and I think the mandated things have to come first," she said. "If you're going to buy a meal for your family, you buy dinner first and then, if you have money left over, you buy dessert."

The "dessert", she explained, are programs like SDSA which are not required by state law.

"If cuts have to be made, I would prefer they would be made outside of kindergarten through 12," she said. "These [programs] are wonderful things but if we can't afford them, they have to go."

I'll give Ms. Mitchell a break and assume that this quote is from before last night's presentations, in which I think the case was clearly made that the arts are not an added program at SDSA but rather are a integral part of the academic curriculum.

We're not done here.

In Which We Descend, in Force, on the Indian River School Board Meeting

We went to this evening's meeting of the Indian River School Board in support of the Southern Delaware School of the Arts (SDSA), which is under some threat from School Board budget cutters.

I've been tracking this story, which has been covered by the News Journal (Parents fear arts school will close), the Cape Gazette (School of the Arts may be facing budget cuts),
and on local television.

The Board meeting was fascinating. I was surprised at the extensive pomp and circumstance built into the meeting. It started with a deeply Christian prayer to start the meeting, continued through a solemn color-guard procession, and featured a strictly regimented Board agenda with time limits on speakers and warnings not to mention teachers, administrators or students by name because personnel matters have to be discussed in executive session. It was most baroque.

We packed the meeting room with school supporters sporting SDSA stickers. That's mine above. The public comment sections of the agenda included many statements of support for the School of the Arts. A student group including Honor Society and Student Government members -- my girls among them -- gave a multi-media presentation (singing, dancing, public speaking, sign-holding, and public painting) about SDSA. Parents spoke about the positive affect the School has had on their kids.

Even other segments of the agenda showed the value of the School of the Arts. The board honored high-achieving Indian River High school students. A good portion of them -- especially among those named to all state chorus and all-state band -- were SDSA graduates.

The school board members said at the meeting, and are saying in press coverage, that they -- at this point -- have no plans to close or cut SDSA. But we know that we need to keep the pressure on and make sure that they know that if they mess with the School, they will be messing around with one of their best schools, and they will face a motivated and dedicated group of parents, friends and graduates.

We're watching.