And then there was one: Budget cuts reduce art department

In her nine years as a Wasilla High art teacher, Allison Little has watched the art program grow and shrink drastically.

Little taught adaptive PE and art in 17 different schools, from Texas and Arkansas to finally settling at Wasilla High. Little was the only art teacher when she first started at Wasilla. Then the program grew to two staff members, and now it is back to Little as the only art teacher.

“It was nice to watch the art program grow. When there was just one art teacher, my AP classes normally had two or three submissions a year,” Little said.

In Little’s fourth year at Wasilla, the program gained another teacher, Wrynn Nieves.

“The longer we built the program with two teachers the upper level classes continued to grow. Last year, I had studio I and II. Each class had around 20 kids in them, and I had 13 students in AP last year. The program grew in a very positive way,” Little said.

“That’s what I loved about having two teachers,” Little added.

Nieves moved out of state in 2015 and was replaced by Karen Dishneau. Then the fall of oil prices caused serious cuts in the budget, and the school had to make the difficult decision of having to lose positions, Dishneau’s being one of them.

“It was a very tough decision to make,” WHS assistant principal Jeff Nelles said.

Who gets cut was decided by looking at the required course offerings and student requests. When there are cuts to staff to be made, the district office informs schools near the end of the school year in April or May. District office plans the budget from projected student enrollment and they hire teachers according to teacher-student ratios. The district projected Wasilla High for just over 900 even though the school started the new school year with just over 1000. But the teacher shortage remained.

Wasilla High didn’t lose teachers so much as it didn’t replace teachers who retired or moved. With the reduced staff teachers had to take different preps and take over different classes. For example WHS teacher Alicia Tweet taught only science last year, but this year teaches science and Japanese.

“It’s a formula. We lose a certain amount of teachers. So it’s not so much we lost a specific teacher. We lose a teacher for the building, so it affects the whole building. We actually lost more than just one. It wasn’t just art. We lost one in the special education department.” WHS counselor John Paramo said. ( The math department also was reduced by one teacher.)

“The budget of the school district has been shrinking, based on state revenue. The principal just had to make hard decisions last year because they were told they had to cut a certain number of positions, and unfortunately the arts was one of them. It’s a sad thing, but it’s nobody’s fault. It was just money,” Little said. Nevertheless, this cut adversely affected the art program and Little’s classes.

“The class sizes are so large, I am no longer able to offer photography. Instead of two studio classes of 20 kids, I now have one in the mid 30s. My Surveys are all in the high 30s,” Little said.

“Now with one teacher there’s bigger classes and there’s more students. I don’t think It’s bad thing, you can see more work from your peers and their abilities.” WHS Senior Kacey Wratislaw said. “But, I liked when there were two teachers because each teacher taught in their own way. They both had different skill levels so you could learn different things from both.”

A typical class has around 25 students.

“When you get into the closer to the 30 range, it becomes it’s too full. It’s too chaotic. You don’t get as much help as you want, so [class] numbers make a big difference,” Paramo said.

Large class sizes affect the connection Little has with each of her students.

“The bottom line is the kids lose out on that one on one connection time with me as a teacher, and I can tell that it’s harder to make personal connections with kids,” Little said. “The biggest sacrifice this year is the time I’m not getting to know all of my students as I would like. That’s a very valuable part of my job.”

Another consequence of the budget cuts means there are students who don’t have the ability to take art because of full classes. When classes are full, the students who may have wanted art have to take another elective instead.

“Kids decide if they want to take Art Survey, and if a lot of people sign up it essentially becomes first come first serve. Once it’s full, it’s full,” Paramo said.

“Over time I expect my AP program continue to drop in numbers based on fewer kids being able to get into the required classes that build into it,” Little said.

The more advanced students become in the arts, their art classes become smaller because some kids don’t go on to take Studio after Survey. And then other art students don’t go on to take AP art.

“[Art] challenges the creative side of the brain. In that regard it allows kids to gain confidence in something they would probably not feel confident in, ‘You know... I can’t do art- Oh yeah you can, if you try.’ And it makes the world beautiful,” Parmo said.

Research shows that students who take art classes have higher attendance rates and lower dropout rates. Art allows students to learn on their own and at their own rate. Research also shows that art students connect with their peers better and have better peer support. Art challenges students at all skill levels. Those students taking four or more classes in the arts score higher on their SAT scores. But, it’s more than all of that for Wratislaw and other art students trying to fit art into their schedule with only one art teacher.

“It’s a way for me express myself, to be able to show what I can do. Art is like an emotion. It’s how someone can speak without even speaking,” Wratislaw ended.

(The other large comprehensive schools, Colony High and Palmer High, each have one art teacher. CTHS does not offer art.)

Kayla Schierholt is a Journalism II student at Wasilla High. She has taken art since a freshman and is currently taking 3D Art.