Davis students, supporters plead for performing arts | Yakima Herald ...

Davis students, supporters plead for performing arts

by Molly Rosbach
Yakima Herald-Republic

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YAKIMA, Wash. -- Nearly 100 people turned out Tuesday night to ask Yakima school officials to spare the performing arts from any cuts that appear necessary in an over-budget remodel of Davis High School.

"Not giving the Davis students an updated facility is robbing them now and in the future, and I don?t think that this school board would like to be doing that," said Kaleen McWilliams, who has a child at Davis.

"We spend more time (in the performing arts center) than probably most of the teachers that work there," said Anitra Marina Reyna, a sophomore and band student. "It?s something that we love ... it?s not fair to lose that at all."

The broad renovation of the high school is part of the 20-year, $114 million bond that Yakima voters approved in 2009. The bond also included a new Eisenhower High School and an improved Stanton Academy, which ended up being a new facility due to significant problems at the old campus.

With Davis, board members were dismayed last week when construction bids came back $5 million to $7 million over budget, or about 8.5 percent of the total ?$97 million estimated for the remodel. They?re currently working with the architects to find places to cut costs, and will put the project back out to bid Friday.

School board president Martha Rice tried to dispel some misconceptions at the close of the board?s business meeting Tuesday night, explaining that no programs will be lost.

"The performing arts are not being cut. The performing arts at Davis are an integral part of the school," she said after community members had spoken. "But we just have a finite amount of money to deal with."

Last year, the Ike bid came in about $5 million over its budgeted $106.6 million; so far the district has managed to keep costs within $2 million of the original budget.

For Davis, several of the potential cuts that have been discussed are within the performing arts department, though nothing has been decided yet and the architects are still going over a list of 71 options to redesign.

Board members don?t yet know which cuts they will have to make, Rice said. They have instructed the architect to look through the options, and when the bids come back on Oct. 9, they will be able to give final approval.

"We made sure to tell him that he can?t focus on just one area of the school," she said. "You kind of have to look at the whole school, and if there?s a little bit that can be taken out of every program in the school."

Yakima superintendent Elaine Beraza said last week that a main cost-saver will be eliminating the planned addition to the school?s historic auditorium, which would have come with a larger entrance area and new restrooms.

Expanding the foyer is "not a very prudent idea when you?re over budget," she said last week.

But out of concern that performing arts would sustain deeper cuts, more than a dozen parents, teachers, students and alumni spoke at the board meeting about the importance of arts education, not only for students but for the community. They worry that the arts department will shoulder an unfair majority of the cuts, even though their facilities are just as in need of improvement as the rest of the school.

Speaker after speaker talked about how the arts have been shown to improve test scores and help students feel more connected to their school.

"When I?m doing my band things, my music things, I feel like my grades are higher ... It pushes me to want to be there," said Reyna, who plays in the marching band. She?s also an honors student.

"(Performing arts) is something that we?re just dedicated to and passionate about. It?s something that drives us when we get up in the morning and it?s something I don?t want to see lost," she said.

At least 15 current and former teachers in the district were in attendance, including Scott Goranson, who has taught performing arts at Davis for 12 years.

"We are not dealing with the Taj Mahal of performing arts centers," he said, explaining that the building is mouse-infested, has drinking fountains that are falling off the walls, and a heating and cooling system that "works in opposite seasons."

"It?s outdated, it?s antiquated, it doesn?t meet the needs that we have now," he said. In talks with the district since the bids came back last week, he said that he doesn?t get the sense that performing arts are a priority.

District officials say bigger classrooms and the number of classrooms are essential and not on the list of cut options. A commons area, library and a new gym with adequate seating are also priorities, Beraza has said.

Several former students spoke about the impact that performing arts had on their lives beyond education.

Luke Johnston, a 2010 Davis graduate, said he?d grown up with several learning disabilities and faced bullying that made him think he was worthless. Getting to participate in drama at Davis helped change that.

"The feeling I got going up on that stage and performing my heart out was just not the feeling of excitement ... More importantly, (I felt) that I actually mattered," he said.

Students and adults repeatedly asked the school board to "just do something," to "find more money somewhere." But board members may have few options ahead of them.

"All of those (Davis) bids were considerably over," Rice said. "Some of that is not within the area of control of the architect or the builders or us ... Some of it is local wage increase, increase in material costs ... it came into being after the budget was set."

"It?s not that it is anybody?s fault; it just is what it is," she said.

The state put in $104 million in matching funds, adding to the $114 million bond to pay for the three big school projects. Construction on Ike started last fall; the new Stanton building on River Road was completed just before school started this year and the Davis remodel won?t start until the new bids come back in.

Source: http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2012/09/18/davis-students-supporters-plead-for-performing-arts

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