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Weaver will have strings teacher despite budget cut

Friday, July 3, 2009

(Updated 6:47 pm)

By J. Brian Ewing
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — The strings will continue to sing at Weaver Academy, thanks to a nearly $14,000 allocation by the Guilford County Schools administration. A part-time employee will teach the strings program classes.

Parents of the program’s 12 students and parents of alumni were outraged to learn last month that the strings teacher, James DeFiglia, was cut from the school’s 2009-10 budget. They were much happier after hearing the program would continue.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Katie Tuttle said.

Tuttle was among a group of parents who fought to see the strings teacher reinstated. Tuttle’s daughter Katie graduated in May from Weaver, and Tuttle said the program had a lasting impact on her daughter.

Still, she wants to see the position returned full time and English teacher Janet Powell reinstated as well.

Weaver principal Pete Kashubara said as many as 100 students enrolled in the school’s career and technical education program could be turned away because of the English teacher cut.

Principals cut 118 positions from their budgets next year because of drastic cuts in school budgets, beside nearly 200 teaching positions cut from the school system budget. Those cuts were made by Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green, in large part preparing for deep state budget cuts.

Many of the displaced teachers have been reassigned to other schools within the district.

Haley Miller, a school system spokeswoman, said all principals have the opportunity to appeal their budget cuts to administrators. She did not know how many have appealed or who, other than Kashubara, has won an appeal.

“One thing about the strings teacher is that it’s detrimental to the Weaver fine arts program,” Miller said.

The school system’s human resources department is reviewing all principal’s budgets to evaluate the impact on other programs and to ensure that students are able to meet graduation requirements.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at 373-7351 or brian.ewing@news-record.com

Accompanying Photos

Jenny Tenney

Photo Caption: Jillian Woodward and Cain Pickard protest the eradication of the string program at Weaver Academy on Tuesday.

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whyus

July 2, 2009 - 3:47 pm EDT

Weaver Academy has been recognized as one of the top 100 high schools in the COUNTRY! Any attempts to lay folks off there are fool hardy.

DaveW

July 2, 2009 - 8:03 pm EDT

This is a lesson in human nature. Academics are the most important part of schools. However, extracurricular activities instill deep rooted passions in their participants and the parents of participants.Congratulations to the Weaver musicians and their parents for winning this budget battle. Anybody that advocates cutting something like this in the future will lose just like today.The performing arts and athletics are here to stay due to the influential parents that support them.Several years ago in another tight budget situation it was proposed to remove weight training classes from high schools. That was also reinstated. Usually the students from homes having interested and influential parents are the ones most likely to participate in large numbers in extracurricular arts or sports.Also these same students that are either into arts or athletics tend to make higher grades than those that are not.Some on this site cry" it is only entertainment cut it to save money"do not realize the teaching values of :learning to set long and short term goals, diligence, work ethic,teamwork. I believe all of these virtues have a very positive place in society.Learning these IS NEVER A WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY.

rightwingnemesis

July 2, 2009 - 10:54 pm EDT

With folks like Kris Cooke, Nancy Routh and Darlene Garrett on our school board, there is no sign of intelligent life! They are great and making themselves feel important and Cooke would knock you over to get to a ribbon cutting, but as for depth or substance....they are lacking. There will be more mistakes like trying to close Weaver if we don't get the deadwood off the school board. Garrett is hellbent on bulldozing Oak Ridge and rebuilding it as her monument....but she couldn't give a rat's arse about poor children.

vphb

July 3, 2009 - 6:20 am EDT

rightwing,

First, let me say that I am a parent of one of these students, second, Darlene Garrett is one of two school board members that actually responded to my email requesting that the strings program be reinstated. Her response was more than the standard reply of we're working on a resolultion or thank you for your email. She then went on to copy me on another email that she sent to the rest of the board, Mo Green and Dr. Beacoats arguing for the reinstatement of both of the full time teaching positions at Weaver (the English position affects the Career & Tech side of the school.) Her arguments were well thought and well presented showing both depth and substance. She may have an agenda, that is not for me to say, but she does support and care about Weaver, the kids in all of its programs (CTE too, not just arts) and, funding arts programs in GCS.

rightwingnemesis

July 3, 2009 - 3:44 pm EDT

As for Weaver, Garrett has always supported it as it was mostly for the affluent...and you need to swallow hard and admit that Weaver is one of those programs designed to keep middle to upper income white folks in public schools. Nothing wrong with that, but that is exactly what it is and what it was designed for. Garrett is no friend of those who happen to fall at the other end of the scale--if you are a parent of color or are at or below poverty, don't expect Garrett to assist you. This time, she's on YOUR side. As for Cooke, she is suffering from delusions of power and importance--watch her pretense of "expert" at the board meetings. Routh, was once a fine board member, but today she lives back a few decades and is a contemporary of Karl Malden who died this week at 97!
I support Weaver as I think arts are very, very important to schools all over the county. I also think there was a covenant made between the board, the administration and the parents at Weaver that should be honored. And for the record, a part time teacher is NOT honoring that covenant.

JeepRover

July 3, 2009 - 7:50 am EDT

DaveW, I agree with you, but unfortunately sports programs are the LAST to get any budget cuts while music is the first thing a school will look at to cut.

DaveW

July 3, 2009 - 6:30 pm EDT

Jeep-- I am a coach but I support ALL PROGRAMS that give kids extra mentoring with quality adults after normal school hours. I have no musical talent but I do have a great appreciation for it. I know the dedication it takes to be an accomplished musician is equal to what it takes to be an all conference pitcher, backstroker or middle distance runner.Those of us interested in athletics and the performing arts should be together in these tough times. There are so many knuckleheads out there that would not mind seeing all extracurriculars disappear. I am about to get off this computer and go run 2-3 miles. I will be listening to music on my ipod while I run.Good luck Weaver musicians during the 2009-2010 school year.

succeed

July 3, 2009 - 7:31 am EDT

Weaver is one of the shining stars of the Guilford County School System and should be held up as an example of how to run a school. The students are a credit to the community.

Look at any successful municipality and you will find a solid K-12 public school system.

Wake up Greensboro it isn't about the White Street land fill or Recycling at apartment buildings or run down housing. Get on the education bandwagon and support our schools.

rightwingnemesis

July 3, 2009 - 3:46 pm EDT

Succeed,
Please try to get folks to run against the incumbents on the school board. If you want real change, it ain't coming from Cooke, Garrett and Routh.

artsarecrucial

July 5, 2009 - 3:07 pm EDT

Just to clarify - the string program at Weaver shouldn’t be referred to as an “extra-curricular program”. Weaver is an Arts Magnet school. Students have to audition in order to be accepted. Many of them go on to study their discipline in college. Would anyone use the words “extra-curricular” when referring to the Spanish Immersion program at Jones? Or computer classes at our technology magnet schools?

As for Darlene Garrett, she does not just advocate for the “affluent” folks. She brings up concerns for MANY schools whether they are in her district or not. (Weaver, BTW, is not even one of her schools, but she was concerned about it.) When art and music was severely cut at many elementary schools in 2007-08, Darlene was very helpful in getting it fully reinstated. Do you know how many “affluent” schools were affected by those art/music cuts? Few to none. Most were Title 1/high minority/low scoring schools - schools that sometimes get overlooked, since their parents aren’t often able to come and speak publicly at BOE meetings. Ms. Garrett spoke up for the schools whose art/music programs were affected in 07-08 (Oak View, Oak Hill, Archer, Fairview, Gillespie Park, Sedgefield, Peck, Wiley, Vandalia, just to name a few) even though they weren’t in her district. I don’t think these schools would they be considered rich white schools.

DaveW

July 6, 2009 - 12:35 pm EDT

To artsarecrucial-- You are correct that string music is a class at Weaver and not an extracuricular. I understand that but we unfortunately have people on this site that do not.I am an athletics coach but I strongly defend anything and everything that students work EXTRA hard at. I totally respect musicians and the amount of practice that the ones that qualify to attend Weaver must do to perform at that level. I hope you weren't offended by refering to the program as extracurricular. We have those that post here saying things like performing arts are a waste of tax dollars just like sports. I totally disagree.The performing arts and sports both teach goal setting and work ethic which are 2 vital skills in today's society. Once again I congratulate whomever got the string music program back in place at Weaver.