INTRO:

For 40 years AISD has had a 3 day rotation of ART and Music and PE. Last year, somebody who did not understand and did not respect our district came and changed that all. Our children were receiving art, music, PE and recess PLUS WOW (more PE time and a brain break and bonding opportunity for students and teachers) We now have unsafe, not adequately staffed daily PE with 90+ kids in a gym and/or outside with a Teacher’s Aide. We are missing art and music time at most campuses. This bad plan costs us 8 MILLION dollars a year. This plan creates inequity across our district and harms students and teachers served by special education. Even after all of that, it didn’t create planning time for the majority of teachers and instead created some PLC time for some teachers. We have students with disabilities who are not receiving their services because of this plan. We have special education teachers whose planning time and teaching time is totally disrupted due to this plan. We have a large number of students being injured in over crowded PE’s where instruction is severely impacted. We don’t have the staff and on the few campuses that do have the staff, we have TA’s teaching large classes of PE which is not supposed to be legal. There are many problems with this plan and we need to revert back to our 3 day rotation with Music, Art, PE, recess, and WOW.

WHAT IS NEEDED:

The 3-day cycle plan served the needs of students and met all state requirements in AISD for 40 years. The Official AISD 2021-22 Essential Area “Standards of Service” document reads, in part: “Instruction in Music, Art, & PE will be provided through a three-day rotation (music, art, P.E.) throughout the entire school year. Variations of this format (i.e., block scheduling, 4-day rotation, etc.) are not an option.” We need to return to this excellent method of delivering high quality Music, Art, and PE instruction to all our students.

The children are missing out on fundamental and foundational skills they benefited from with the three-day rotation model with frequent access to PE, Art and Music instruction in single classes taught by a certified teacher. We can revert back to the 3 day rotation and still have true planning time for teachers; planning time which allows for special education teachers to also have planning time and time planning with general education teachers. We can also look at bringing some of the TAs over to special education from PE to help support students with disabilities. We have options to restore high quality art, music, and PE and have planning time. Please sign to ask the district to revert back to the district’s 40 year crown jewel — 3 day rotation of art, music, and PE! 

 

 

 

ORIGINAL PETITION WHEN THOUSANDS OF US ASKED AISD TO NOT IMPLEMENT THIS PLAN:

TLDR: FINE ARTS AND MUSIC ARE AT RISK IN AUSTIN ISD. We need your help saving the integrity of art and music programs while helping PE and classroom teachers! ♥️ HELP US SAVE OUR ESSENTIAL AREAS. 

As our community listened to the last school board meeting, we were momentarily pleased that Superintendent Elizalde walked back the budget/scheduling debacle in middle and high schools. Momentarily, because that’s how long it took to realize that the new budget/scheduling proposal would be “on the backs” of elementary specialists in Music, Art, and PE. First, please know there are many discussions from and with Essential Area teachers about how this proposed change will impact the experience and the learning for students. Please listen to these professionals. The implication from AISD central office leadership implies that art and music students will experience a “deeper dive” into their content in hour long classes. A sixty-minute class is not appropriate for students of this age. By lengthening the class period while simultaneously reducing the number of class days, the result is a 20% reduction of instructional time both in Music and in Art. Further, a Monday-Friday plan leaves students in an Essential Area class on a Monday or a Friday with significantly less classroom time while simultaneously lengthening the gap between classes from one week to two. Many of our administrators and teachers have worked with the three -day rotation for decades. It is unfortunate that so many upper administration leaders new to Austin have not yet been able to grasp how this system creates equity of access for all elementary students. Challenges to the rotation are based on confusion and the desire of adults for a simple and clean M-F system, regardless of how it impacts students. The current plan serves the needs of students.

 

The new proposal amounts to a full-scale attack on a 40-year legacy crown jewel of AISD that is the envy of other states and districts. Our current 3-day rotation schedule has been zealously protected by the AISD School Board and the Austin community for the past 30 years. Through the “Standards of Service” document created in collaboration with principals, the Visual and Performing Arts leaders, Health & PE, as well as leaders from both the academics team and the school leadership team. It has been our guiding document. The current 2021-22 document reads: “Instruction in Music, Art, & PE will be provided through a three-day rotation (music, art, P.E.) throughout the entire school year. Variations of this format (i.e., block scheduling, 4-day rotation, etc.) are not an option.”

 

It is unfortunate that this document has yet to be added to local policy/regulation, leaving our “standards” to fall prey to whatever district leadership chooses to do. The School Board will be forced to radically change this document under the new plan. We are requesting the School Board use all means at their disposal to make sure these changes are NOT implemented. The district has created a false sense of urgency around their implementation of this plan, and make no mistake, it is their plan. The fact that they are now saying that all options are open is another example of them retracing their steps after the community learned of their scheme. Creating a sense of urgency ​reinforces existing power hierarchies that use the sense of urgency to control decision-making in the name of expediency. This is one of the many “Dominant Societal Standards and Antidotes” mentioned in the district’s own “Centering Equity & Cultural Proficiency” workshops currently underway. Here is another example of leadership not following the practices they teach. As current leaders speak about being aware of this plan from data before the pandemic, it is doubly unsettling to imply that this decision is so urgent and important that this drastic change is necessary. Tell AISD to slow down and move at the speed of trust.

 

That trust can only begin to be rebuilt through true collaboration. Music and Art will lose basically an hour a month of class time - 9 hours total, OR 20% OF THE CURRENT INSTRUCTIONAL TIME ALLOCATION. However, this amount of lost time must be expanded to reflect the amount of re-teach time that will be required to try to move ahead instructionally on state mandated TEKS. Seven (or more) days between instruction periods will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to cover the TEKS and keep on track with meetingthose state requirements. The Art and Music teachers would have one class at a time but see their students less often. The children will miss out on fundamental and foundational skills they benefit from with the current three-day rotation model with frequent access to Art and Music instruction. The students stand to miss out on favorite experiences such as sculpting with modeling clay, painting, fairy houses, learning to play the recorder and other instruments, or a beloved holiday musical performance. The decreased time with students leaves Art and Music teachers with less time to build those crucial relationships with students. The impact to FINE ARTS LEARNING programs will be felt throughout each child’s life. As these programs build on one another into middle and high school programs, the loss of foundational skills currently mastered in elementary school will have a chilling downstream effect on Art, Dance, Band, Orchestra, Choir, and Theater programs. Elementary students will no longer leave for their MS and HS music programs with the same level of proficiency as they have for the past 40 years. The devastating impact year after year of this terrible new approach will have a traumatic impact on every Visual and Performing Arts program.

 

We have been here before. For example, in a difficult past moment in the history of music instruction in our state, it was the HS bands and their parents who saved music instruction from completely being eliminated from the elementary school day. Now, we seek to save our high-quality Music and Art programs once again. At the root, if this is about test scores and closing the gap, let us sit down and look at the data, research, and planning that central office has used to create this plan, and weigh it againstthe wealth of research and data that tells us unequivocally that simply giving students more time in the arts improves test scores, reduces behavior issues, keeps kids engaged at school and reduces dropout rates.

 

Across all grade levels, students enrolled in arts courses attend school more regularly. High school students who complete more arts courses experience the greatest benefit of this access. They are twice as likely to graduate high school, 22% more likely to attend college, and are 15% more likely to meet the commended status on standardized tests than students with fewer arts courses.

 

Yes, under the proposed plan, students will have PE every day, which unquestionably is better for them. The plan not only meets the state requirement but almost doubles it. Lately district leadership is saying that other districts are doing it and so we can do it too, only better. Those other districts planned staffing and gym sizes with larger class sizes from the start. but the crux of the issue is that Physical Education in Austin is unlike other PE programs. Through movement and play, the children learn anatomy, nutrition, stress relief, tobacco/e-cig awareness plus many more health topics. This, in addition to fundamental activity and movement skills. The students engage in thoughtfully crafted lessons that include lots of physical activity, opportunities for SEL, blended learning, as well as varied and developmentally appropriate assessments. And because class sizes are moderate, the students have time to reflect upon and talk about their learning. The proposed schedule means whole grade levels would go to PE together in gyms that were built for one class at a time. The safety issues alone should be enough for us to take pause.

 

And what about students with special needs? How will they be able to engage and interact in loud, overcrowded, unsafe environments? How can this be best for our children?

How does this impact the teachers? We will simply say, here we are again pitting teachers against teachers. Historically, when the district uses the word Teacher, they do not include the Art, PE and Music teachers. They say the plan gives teachers additional planning time for professional learning communities, but not Essential Area teachers. Regarding travelers: currently only SOME teachers travel to two campuses. Three teachers (one each from Music, Art and PE) travel between three classes. Currently they only teach 6 of their 7 periods and have the middle period for travel. would bet that, if polled, teachers would opt to continue traveling if it preserved the instructional minutes. Currently travelers either travel for a full day or a half day. The myth that not traveling will allow them to “build community” on their campus is shattered by the reality of the new plan’s workload. With a three-day rotation, these teachers serve 450-460 students, 21-23 homerooms over the course of their 3-day rotation. In the new plan that workload responsibility jumps to 550 or 660 students depending on whether the “principal” chooses a 5-period day or a 6-period day. No one has addressed how a teacher in these classes will find time to

A) grade the additional students,

B) “personalize learning” for their students, or

C) for art, manage and store materials and artwork for the additional students.

The amount of extra planning time planned for Art and Music is a pittance compared to what is being done for homeroom teachers.

 

Parents and teachers are united. We value THE ADDED VALUE OF ESSENTIAL AREAS at our elementary campuses. We are writing to show just some of the harm and chaos this essential areas “redesign” plan will cause and urging District Leadership and the Board to consider the many alternatives to such harmful change. I think the same consideration should be given to this scenario as the secondary 7/8 debate. It is commendable to strive for equity in planning minutes between elementary and secondary and it IS IMPORTANT to work on closing the gaps in student learning.  We  hopethat is achieved through other means. But in striving for equity amongst grade levels, elementary Fine Arts/PE teachers do not have the same planning minutes as their academic counterparts. The district was able to find a way for secondary Fine Arts/PE teachers to have the same planning minutes as their academic counterparts and I hope the district shows that same consideration in elementary, too, by not passing this plan.

 

Ultimately, we know there is no solution that will make everyone happy. And we know that the issue really lies with our state chronically underfunding education. However, there are less harmful and easier to implement solutions that will allow for the much-needed teacher planning time on the elementary campuses without harming elementary student instruction. We are not advocating for any one outcome but giving an example of some previously proposed solutions.

1. Return to a 2:45 dismissal. That would give elementary teachers at least 30 extra min a day.

2. Where possible, provide alternatives to BIC. Set something up so late comers can continue to have their breakfast. BIC takes away 20-30 min of instruction a day.

3. Add Teacher Aides. Based on HR-reported data: a national average with a geographic differential is $23,255. 5 aides per campus to cover up to 6 grade-level homeroom teachers (5 x $23,255 = $116,275) 78 campuses x $116,275 =$ 9,069,450

The district is already prepared to spend $6M. Not every school will need 5 aides so that cost is high. My guess, 7.5 million. Every teacher gets 105 minutes daily. Aides with no duty are free for lunch duty, to cover ARDS, dismissal, etc.

4. Add early release days in partnership with aftercare programs.