Kaya sees song and dance in Cuba, but CUTS Fillmore Arts Center in DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So far DcPs has not given parents any evidence that arts education is not going to be negatively effected.

Please can they show us school by school their ideas. Particularly how to over come the absence of space for music, dance classes, and painting.

They didn't even do any sort of space or facilities study for the 5 schools that would be impacted before declaring that Fillmore would be closed. If they took a moment to look into it, they'll see that all five schools are oversubscribed and don't have physical space to add art and music programs onsite. This is all about money, pure and simple with short-term vision. DCPS central office wants to recoup any money they can NOW so that they can throw it at pet projects like the extended school year at 11 schools, the male-only high school, programs for students who are 18+ years old, etc. Perhaps all of those ideas are good ones, but diminishing arts education for 1700 elementary students is not the way to do it. Especially when the central office price tag is around $600K. Peanuts, comparatively speaking.

And on another note, I encourage a scrappy investigative reporter to look into the busing contract process. The Fillmore schools have no say in which buses show up to take the students to Fillmore each week. Inexplicably, central office sends what are essentially luxury buses every damn week. Why is that? Why does the district pay top dollar for this when yellow school buses would do just fine? There is a lot of corruption in this deal...I just know it.

Nevertheless, DCPS needs to keep Fillmore and stop screwing with schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So far DcPs has not given parents any evidence that arts education is not going to be negatively effected.

Please can they show us school by school their ideas. Particularly how to over come the absence of space for music, dance classes, and painting.

They didn't even do any sort of space or facilities study for the 5 schools that would be impacted before declaring that Fillmore would be closed. If they took a moment to look into it, they'll see that all five schools are oversubscribed and don't have physical space to add art and music programs onsite. This is all about money, pure and simple with short-term vision. DCPS central office wants to recoup any money they can NOW so that they can throw it at pet projects like the extended school year at 11 schools, the male-only high school, programs for students who are 18+ years old, etc. Perhaps all of those ideas are good ones, but diminishing arts education for 1700 elementary students is not the way to do it. Especially when the central office price tag is around $600K. Peanuts, comparatively speaking.

And on another note, I encourage a scrappy investigative reporter to look into the busing contract process. The Fillmore schools have no say in which buses show up to take the students to Fillmore each week. Inexplicably, central office sends what are essentially luxury buses every damn week. Why is that? Why does the district pay top dollar for this when yellow school buses would do just fine? There is a lot of corruption in this deal...I just know it.

Nevertheless, DCPS needs to keep Fillmore and stop screwing with schools.

Because DCPS doesn't own or operate any yellow school buses.

The ones you do see are the OSSE buses for special education students.

[Anonymous]

If you voted for her, it's your fault.

Mayor Catania never would have done this.

[Anonymous]

Plenty of ES provide art and music in the classroom. If anything, Fillmore should be open to a full audit of their program over the past 10 years. We were underwhelmed with their program when my kid was at Hyde.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plenty of ES provide art and music in the classroom. If anything, Fillmore should be open to a full audit of their program over the past 10 years. We were underwhelmed with their program when my kid was at Hyde.

If you are saying "plenty of" ES provide art and music in the same homeroom that all the other education takes place in, that is simply untrue, false, evading the facts. Even DCPS will tell you that kids need separate rooms for arts equipment and musical instruments, and they expect this to be what happens in every DCPS school...except for the 5 Fillmore feeder schools, which do not have even that. In truth, DCPS cares less than a pinch for the 5 Fillmore schools and is using a flimsy transportation-cost argument to cover up its disdain for them.

[Anonymous]

+100.

[Anonymous]

Trips like this are why DCPS elementary schools can't afford to pay teaching assistants.

DCPS is the most overfunded school system in America!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plenty of ES provide art and music in the classroom. If anything, Fillmore should be open to a full audit of their program over the past 10 years. We were underwhelmed with their program when my kid was at Hyde.

If you are saying "plenty of" ES provide art and music in the same homeroom that all the other education takes place in, that is simply untrue, false, evading the facts. Even DCPS will tell you that kids need separate rooms for arts equipment and musical instruments, and they expect this to be what happens in every DCPS school...except for the 5 Fillmore feeder schools, which do not have even that. In truth, DCPS cares less than a pinch for the 5 Fillmore schools and is using a flimsy transportation-cost argument to cover up its disdain for them.

Which elementary schools have instruments? Ours doesn't and never did. Are we supposed to have instruments?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plenty of ES provide art and music in the classroom. If anything, Fillmore should be open to a full audit of their program over the past 10 years. We were underwhelmed with their program when my kid was at Hyde.

If you are saying "plenty of" ES provide art and music in the same homeroom that all the other education takes place in, that is simply untrue, false, evading the facts. Even DCPS will tell you that kids need separate rooms for arts equipment and musical instruments, and they expect this to be what happens in every DCPS school...except for the 5 Fillmore feeder schools, which do not have even that. In truth, DCPS cares less than a pinch for the 5 Fillmore schools and is using a flimsy transportation-cost argument to cover up its disdain for them.

Which elementary schools have instruments? Ours doesn't and never did. Are we supposed to have instruments?

If your kids have access to instruments, then you wouldn't want to let DCPS to take them away. And if you don't have instruments at your school, then why haven't you ever asked for them? DCPS has spent a ton on arts funding in the last few years and individual schools can decide how to spend that money.

[Anonymous]

Instruments are not ideal in ES, come on folks. Stick to the basics.

[Anonymous]

A few people on this thread have estimated the cost of operating Filmore at $500.000- where did this number comes from? I've poked around the [url]DCPS data center[/http://dcpsdatacenter.com/fy16school_comparison.html] and the [url]DCPS budget guide[/http://www.dcpsschoolbudgetguide.com/fy17_budget_guide.pdf], but couldn't find a mention of Filmore Arts Center.

I'd love a link to more information!

[Anonymous]

Each trailer -- i mean learning cottage-- costs $1million plus extra operating costs. Put 1 at each school that needs it, and pretty quickly you realize that its more expensive to move arts and music back to the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few people on this thread have estimated the cost of operating Filmore at $500.000- where did this number comes from? I've poked around the [url]DCPS data center[/http://dcpsdatacenter.com/fy16school_comparison.html] and the [url]DCPS budget guide[/http://www.dcpsschoolbudgetguide.com/fy17_budget_guide.pdf], but couldn't find a mention of Filmore Arts Center.

I'd love a link to more information!

From the Northwest Current in September:

"...D.C. Public Schools lists Fillmore as a “highlight” of its arts education offerings on its website. Students are bused once a week to the arts center, participating in dance, music, theater, and visual and digital arts instruction.

To fund Fillmore, the five schools divert their arts instruction funding and the school system adds $600,000, for an operating budget of roughly $1.6 million. Last spring, D.C. Public Schools wrote to the community that the city spends $1,149 per student to operate Fillmore; in comparison, $458 is spent per student across all elementary schools “to support art and music instruction.”"

https://ruth4schools.com/fillmore-at-risk-from-nw-current/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few people on this thread have estimated the cost of operating Filmore at $500.000- where did this number comes from? I've poked around the [url]DCPS data center[/http://dcpsdatacenter.com/fy16school_comparison.html] and the [url]DCPS budget guide[/http://www.dcpsschoolbudgetguide.com/fy17_budget_guide.pdf], but couldn't find a mention of Filmore Arts Center.

I'd love a link to more information!

From the Northwest Current in September:

"...D.C. Public Schools lists Fillmore as a “highlight” of its arts education offerings on its website. Students are bused once a week to the arts center, participating in dance, music, theater, and visual and digital arts instruction.

To fund Fillmore, the five schools divert their arts instruction funding and the school system adds $600,000, for an operating budget of roughly $1.6 million. Last spring, D.C. Public Schools wrote to the community that the city spends $1,149 per student to operate Fillmore; in comparison, $458 is spent per student across all elementary schools “to support art and music instruction.”"

https://ruth4schools.com/fillmore-at-risk-from-nw-current/

The cost of Fillmore is a drop in the bucket compared with the cost of renovating the overcrowded Fillmore schools to give them the same amount of space dedicated to arts and music as the DCPS schools with in house art and music programs.

[Anonymous]

Last year's numbers were over-inflated with a bloated political patronage private contract for stretch limo buses that no one asked for.