Help keep quality arts education alive at Fillmore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will absolutely NOT sign the petition. My daughter attends Fillmore through her ES and its awful. I have two other kids in private school and the quality in arts education is there is so superior to Fillmore it's pathetic. Fillmore is a JOKE.

Again, what school? Marie Reed? Do others also go to Fillmore?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:M My child has reported back to me that two teachers have had short fuses when it comes to snapping and sniping at the kids. Plus, I don't like that my child has to board a bus and spent valuable instruction time lining up, leaving the school, boarding a bus and commuting to Fillmore...and then doing the whole thing in reverse. It seems wasteful and chaotic. I'd much rather see arts education IN the school.

Sounds like the art teacher at my school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will absolutely NOT sign the petition. My daughter attends Fillmore through her ES and its awful. I have two other kids in private school and the quality in arts education is there is so superior to Fillmore it's pathetic. Fillmore is a JOKE.

Again, what school? Marie Reed? Do others also go to Fillmore?

No, not your school. Our is in NW and many there know that Filmore is the weak link in an otherwise good program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yikes, why all the hate for Filmore?

Agreed! Our kids LOVE Fillmore -- they have been there for several years now -- and my husband and I are thrilled with the incredible diversity of mediums they are exposed to there. There is no way our school could begin to offer anything remotely as high quality and diverse with the .5 FTE we get from DCPS for arts and music ed. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I have yet to find any educational offering that pleases everyone, so I don't mean to dismiss those that have not had a good experience there, but Fillmore is working well for many many families -- check out the comments submitted with the 700 signatures gathered on the petition to date! For those with sincere interest in understanding the "whys" and "whats" of Fillmore, the petition provides some additional information and you should also check out the Friends of Fillmore website (FoF is Fillmore's PTA). Fillmore is an award-winning and innovative way to bring arts and music to our kids -- our school would suffer tremendously if we lost it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I have two other kids in private school and the quality in arts education is there is so superior to Fillmore it's pathetic. Fillmore is a JOKE.

Is this poster seriously comparing the arts education offered by DCPS to that offered by a private school? Public schools all over the country are and always haved squeezed arts and music -- they are always the first to go when money gets tight. I remember my mother fundraising for art and music at my (high-quality) public school in the 1970s! I am all for debate on this thread but honestly, bringing in how much better things are at private school seems to me to miss the point entirely.

[Anonymous]

I'd like to know a couple of things:
1) are the "teachers" at Filmore actually union/accredited teachers
2) how much $$ is spent to bus kids back and forth to the Filmore site and
3) what is the financial arrangement between Filmore/DCPS and the participating elementary schools?

If we are being asked to support an additional expenditure of $300K, I'd like to know much more about the current financial arrangement.

[Anonymous]

This is interesting discussion, I did not know so many people disliked the program, I wish there were some more analysis on what it costs and saves each school to be able to use Fillmore so as to inform a debate re what can be done to offer all schools a wide range of creative instruction.

I have always been a bit skeptical of the program, especially because the products that my son brings home, from a PK class, does not seem to warrant a bus trip (which I heard cost $600). But he also does dance class which his school has absolutely no space for. They probably don't have space to store a decent range of art supplies either. So for this the Fillmore program is valuable for small schools. But I agree, the Fillmore model may not be the most cost efficient overall, it would be nice if DCPS would release some sort of study if they have done one. And present their plan for not letting creative expression die as they pursue higher math and reading scores.

[Anonymous]

It's a little alarming to see people suggesting that instead of funding Fillmore, we should have a full and comprehensive arts program at each home school. Where is the funding coming from for THAT? The pooling of resources that Fillmore represents more than doubles the arts budget available to any of the participating schools. If they stopped participating, they might get one part-time art OR music teacher at their home school. Certainly not the full range of multi-disciplinary arts options they get at Fillmore.

And the idea that Fillmore should be allowed to perish because the arts curriculum at a private school is better? The mind absolutely boggles. Surely you don't think that all these DCPS students across 8 wards of DC who are currently serviced by the Fillmore program would have the option of going to private school instead? A handful of them may, but they're not the only children we need to serve in this community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is interesting discussion, I did not know so many people disliked the program, I wish there were some more analysis on what it costs and saves each school to be able to use Fillmore so as to inform a debate re what can be done to offer all schools a wide range of creative instruction.

I am not sure eight unhappy posters count as "so many" -- Fillmore serves like 3500 kids! And the petition has over 700 signatures. Just saying . . .

I think there is info on the Friends of Fillmore website about how the costs work in case that is helpful. As I understand it, the costs are the same for participating schools whether you go the Fillmore route or hire someone in the school -- currently, I think the school pays Fillmore the amount it gets from DCPS for art and music (the cost of one FTE or whatever), so it ends up being the same. But what is not the same is what you get -- that is where the diversity at Fillmore becomes so important. Digital art, ceramics, painting, dance, drama, various instruments -- if your school was only entitled to one FTE, it is difficult to imagine that you'd find a teacher that could effectively teach such a range, and many schools simply do not have space or resources (computers, kilns) to offer all of these things. To me, the value to the students is clear. They just have so many more options at Fillmore.

[Anonymous]

Rather than Fillmore, DCPS should be forging partnerships with foundations that are dedicated to and/or support the arts. The kind of grant-making entities that can truly help DCPS do this. How many DCPS staff positions downtown are dedicated to grant seeking activities (or arts or anything else for that matter)? There are other models for funding and hosting robust arts education than just Fillmore or in-school DCPS employees? Again, more than a dozen schools are CLOSING...let's repurpose some of that funding in a useful way. Fillmore is OK, but my personal experience is that it is just that...OK. We could do better. How about in addition to this petition we conduct a survey of families who use Fillmore?

[Anonymous]

The loss of instructional time going to and from Fillmore was always troubling for me.

I went to the Open House last year for my school and was not impressed. The "teachers" seemed to have little experience and/or interest in teaching. The art teacher was working on his own project and seriously - my school has markers and paper - we could do that at home. The dance teacher seemed to like dancing - but had no classroom management skills.

I was glad when my school cut the Fillmore ties and just started teaching art in the school...and utilized partnerships with the Kennedy Center...much much better.

[Anonymous]

Airing out difficulties with arts teachers at Fillmore or any school is a good thing. Throughout the city there are teachers that students complain about. It never hurts a teacher to hear that they may need to calm down or add other techniques to their classroom management skills. The teachers at Fillmore that are being affected by the cuts are the FTE highly effective teachers.
Each of them has consistently scored in the highly effective rating over the years.

It is a bit alarming to see all the Fillmore complaints stacked up here, though, again, as someone posted earlier, these few complaints don't compare to the more than 700 signatures on the petition.

Too bad all the posts from anonymous?? I'm curious to know what schools and which students are being represented in the complaints.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Airing out difficulties with arts teachers at Fillmore or any school is a good thing. Throughout the city there are teachers that students complain about. It never hurts a teacher to hear that they may need to calm down or add other techniques to their classroom management skills. The teachers at Fillmore that are being affected by the cuts are the FTE highly effective teachers.
Each of them has consistently scored in the highly effective rating over the years.

It is a bit alarming to see all the Fillmore complaints stacked up here, though, again, as someone posted earlier, these few complaints don't compare to the more than 700 signatures on the petition.

Too bad all the posts are from anonymous. I'm curious to know what schools and which students are being represented in the complaints.

[Anonymous]

Airing out difficulties with arts teachers at Fillmore or any school is a good thing. Throughout the city there are teachers that students complain about. It never hurts a teacher to hear that they may need to calm down or add other techniques to their classroom management skills. The teachers at Fillmore that are being affected by the cuts are the FTE highly effective teachers.
Each of them has consistently scored in the highly effective rating over the years.

It is a bit alarming to see all the Fillmore complaints stacked up here, though, again, as someone posted earlier, these few complaints don't compare to the more than 700 signatures on the petition.

Too bad all the posts are from anonymous. I'm curious to know what schools and which students are being represented in the complaints.

[Anonymous]

Why wouldn't people remain anonymous? With the 700+ signatures it's scary to be the voice of dissent among your school community. Plus, while I'm no fan of Fillmore and have seen myself how unengaged these teachers seem at open houses, I am grateful that my child is receiving some level of arts education. And I know making big changes like cutting Fillmore out of the picture and having to figure out another model is really difficult. So, I figure I can air my honest feelings here anonymously so that like-minded people can feel free to do the same. Either we learn that there's significantly more dissatisfaction for Fillmore than people thought or maybe the Fillmore and DCPS powers that be will read threads like this and consider how improvements can be made.