In recent weeks, Virginia Beach students, parents and staff alike have expressed concern over the possibility of music and fine art programs being cut throughout secondary (middle and high) schools in the division. A petition to “preserve funding” in these programs made on change.org to school board members by a VBCPS high school student has received 6,511 signatures at the time of publication.
But while the possibility of a reduction in these programs does exist, it is not because of a targeted attempt to reduce funding to fine art programs, but because overall staffing is being reduced throughout the division to maintain current spending with rising inflation, a plan to raise teacher salaries, and a predicted loss in enrollment in some schools, Superintendent Donald Robertson has explained in recent school board meetings.
Every year at each school, depending on overall projected enrollment for the next year, principals are given a minimum number of staff the school can employ. At Princess Anne, Principal Todd Tarkenton describes that with past levels of funding, PA has been able to maintain a number of staff higher than this minimum. With the school facing a projected decrease in around 110 students next year, Tarkenton explains, changes in staffing are going to have to be made at PA.
Tarkenton made clear that these changes will not mean that any staff with a full-time position will lose their jobs, but instead that some teachers will have to move around the division–for example, taking positions at both PA and another school, as some teachers already do. Any true “losses” of staff will come from those who are hired part time, Tarkenton explains, whose contracts are only for a single year. Because of a loss of extra teaching allocations at PA, some part-time teachers may not return the coming year.
Tarkenton emphasized that ultimately reductions or losses of classes are up to student interest, explaining that changes made to staffing or classes are “driven by student course requests.” With a requirement of about 17 students to “make a class,” if only a small number of students sign up to take a class, Tarkenton says he cannot justify filling that teaching position. This requirement is nothing new, but the added strain of less teaching positions available forces school leaders to make tougher decisions on what classes the school can offer.
Fine arts classes across the school division are put at greater risk with these changes because they are not as necessary to fulfill graduation requirements as the core subjects. Tarkenton makes clear that because of continued student interest, the survival of PA’s fine arts programs will not be threatened in the coming year, even with reductions on the horizon.
