Board Member

SEATS AVAILABLE: 2

School District: Burbank USD

Position Seeking: Board Member

Question 1: Please share a meaningful experience you had with art (visual, dance, drama, music, media arts) while growing up and its impact on you.

I am a band geek, through and through! I started playing the violin in 4th grade and continued all the way through high school. In 7th grade I realized that all my friends heading to High School would be in marching band, except for me. So I began playing the Saxophone so that I too could be in marching band. As a result of that choice I had amazing experiences that included travel and performing in famous places in front of millions of people that I would not have had without having music in my life. I was able to perform in the Rose Parade, the 1984 Olympics Opening Ceremony and made many, many life long friends who we now are raising OUR children together, still as friends.

Question 2: How can arts education support student outcomes such as English language development, reducing the achievement gap, and preparing youth for college and/or meaningful careers?

Arts education can and should be used to develop ELL's language development by simply being able to utilize the reading, writing and speaking skills. ELL's need the opportunity to develop their language by interacting with different types of art forms, similar to that of English Only students. Everyone needs vocabulary development for Arts instruction as well as utilizing or developing critical thinking skills by analyzing art.
Not only academically but Arts education can level the playing field for students socially as well. All students can share their own experiences and cultural background with each other so that there is an understanding of each others cultures and perspectives. 
Finally, Arts education with ELLs can also provide a chance for them to build their confidence with their second language and perhaps showcase a strength that is not necessarily academic.

Question 3: What do you think the role of the School Board should be in ensuring that students have continued access to a broad range of study subjects, including the arts (broadly defined)?

The School boards role always is to oversee the budget and to set policy for the district. In addition, the role of the board is to set a vision for the district. To me, my job as a school board member is to keep as many programs and opportunities for students available as long as it remains good for kids. For some of our students, their arts programs are what keeps them coming to school every day, involved in their school community and even from dropping out. Its my role to do whatever needs to be done to keep those programs afloat. Here in Burbank, we have made an great effort to not only keep our programs but wish to continually grow and enhance what we already have.

Question 4: Do you see a role for arts education in the development of district Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs)? If so, how would you hope to use arts education to advance the eight priority areas identified in the LCAP template?

We have included Arts Education in our LCAPS in several areas because we know, as a Board and as a community that Arts education is important for our students. The LCAPs are designed to focus on areas of need, used to increase test scores and achievement. With that in mind, we have included arts funding to ensure that we are meeting the needs and the goals of the community.
We have used the LCAP to increase funding to our Instrumental music programs, purchasing new instruments and money to repair what we already have. We have added Music teachers for K-5 music instruction. We have used LCAP funds to add World Language classes as well at our middle schools. We will continue to development our LCAP as a catalyst for funding some of our arts programs, and as long as the local community desires.

School District: Burbank USD

Position Seeking: Board Member

Question 1: Please share a meaningful experience you had with art (visual, dance, drama, music, media arts) while growing up and its impact on you.

My most memorable art experience as a child occurred when I was a 9th grader at John Muir Junior High. (1974) I was part of the Mixed Chorus that got invited to the MENC convention that was held at the Anaheim Convention Center near Disneyland. We were the first junior high school group to ever be selected to perform at MENC. It was a very special day, filled with excitement, joy and pride. The effort that the whole group put out to learn several difficult music pieces to perform at the event created bonds with classmates that exist to this day. My junior high choir experiences provided me with a love of music which propelled me into my second career after exiting Pharmacy, which I found unsatisfying. I investing in an electronic musical instrument repair business while I was still in Pharmacy, then bought out my partner when I left the profession and continued to run that business for over 26 years. I can easily trace my love of music back to those 3 years in junior high and that love has been instilled in my daughter, who is currently part of the renowned Burbank High School vocal music program. 

Question 2: How can arts education support student outcomes such as English language development, reducing the achievement gap, and preparing youth for college and/or meaningful careers?

Arts are a core part of a child’s education for several reasons. First, art and music provide for the creation of alternative pathways with the brain, and assist children with critical thinking skill development. Art helps develop spatial relationship skills as well as providing a platform from which interdisciplinary learning can occur. Exposure to movies and theatre can be an important means to connect to English language learners and assist in acclimating them to verbal English. Arts programming many times helps to connect students to school when they other have no affinity towards other coursework. Those connections can then be exploited to encourage attention to other disciplines. In Burbank, with all the entertainment businesses in our town, our students have the opportunity to go from high school directly into many good paying jobs in digital media, animation, production and theatre crafts, just to name a few. Many internships are available to college students that dovetail into a job upon graduation. Finally, many of our graduates have been accepted into incredible programs nationwide, such as Julliard, Berklee, Cap24, as well as local arts programs at colleges and universities such as USC, UCLA, and Claremont

Question 3: What do you think the role of the School Board should be in ensuring that students have continued access to a broad range of study subjects, including the arts (broadly defined)?

In Burbank, as an Arts for All school district, we have a 10 year plan that drives the vision for a sequential arts education for all our students K-12 across for strands: Music, Theatre, Visual Arts and Dance. We have accomplished much of the goals of our original 10 year outline. We have a well developed visual arts program in all grade levels with many of our teachers completing training workshops at the Getty and MOCA, among others. Are music program includes dedicated teacher specialists in our elementary schools and nationally acclaimed programs at our secondary campuses. Dance is well articulated through the grades, although I am attempting to champion a separate Dance offering at the middle school level that is its own program, not something imbedded into the Physical Education classes. Theatre is also an art form with good elementary and high school exposure, but less at the middle school. I am working to have a drama program developed at all three of our middle schools. Currently, only one has a drama program with a full time teacher. The role of the Board is to develop and maintain the vision, adjust the vision as necessary, and continue to support the necessary budgetary financial commitments needed for the programs to exist and thrive. Most importantly, when times are tough, make sure to sustain the commitment at least partially, to ensure that a program never gets fully eliminated, which could take a generation or more to bring back.

Question 4: Do you see a role for arts education in the development of district Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs)? If so, how would you hope to use arts education to advance the eight priority areas identified in the LCAP template?

With a broad stakeholder involvement and a community that is very connected to arts and entertainment, it is hard to believe that arts wouldn’t be an important component of our District’s LCAP plan. Certainly arts education can have a profound impact on student achievement and student engagement as can be gleaned from some of my answers to the previous questions. School climate is very positively impacted by the presence of art programs, whether it is a display of student created art, a performance by a choir, band, theatre troupe or dance ensemble. When discussing parental involvement, all the performing arts programs to varying degrees involve parent support, whether it is sweat equity, monetary contributions, or something as simple as driving a student to a rehearsal. The LCAP process allows for directing funding to support key aspects of our Arts programs; providing specific targets for music teachers in our elementary grades, providing dedicated funding for professional development opportunities for our teaching staff, and providing a platform for adding programs, such as additional media and culinary arts to student course offerings in the future. The Board is then tasked with supporting the vision of the plan as adopted, which has lead to successful implementation of many new program offerings and supports in BUSD.

School District: Burbank USD

Position Seeking: Board Member

Question 1: Please share a meaningful experience you had with art (visual, dance, drama, music, media arts) while growing up and its impact on you.

I didn’t really have any interest in music early in my school years. When I was about 8 my grandfather pulled out his old saxophone and played a few songs. He didn’t play that much and wasn’t very accomplished but it had an affect on me. He encouraged me to take it up, telling me about how it was always a good thing to know how to play an instrument. I followed his advice and joined the band at my school, taking up saxophone. I played in the band for several years, even though I didn’t really seem to have a knack for it (bit of a tin ear, I’d say) but always enjoyed it. It really sparked an appreciation for music that continues to this day. Joining the band was really the only artistic outlet at my school in those days (no choir or dance, and media arts wasn’t even a concept yet). It gave those of us involved not only a chance to learn how to play an instrument but also what it felt like to perform in front of an audience and to work together as a group. 

Question 2: How can arts education support student outcomes such as English language development, reducing the achievement gap, and preparing youth for college and/or meaningful careers?

There are many ways that students benefit from a comprehensive arts education. In some practical ways, there are studies that have shown learning and practicing music improves reading skills and sequence learning, also drama and theater education improve reading, oral and memory skills and the ability to learn and process stories. On a much larger scale, education in the arts improves students’ abilities to think creatively. Common Core standards want more than anything else to improve students problem solving skills, the ability to think outside the box to come up with solutions. Arts education promotes inventing thinking and seeing the world in a different way. Dedication to a particular artistic area like music or drama also develops better working habits in students. It’s also been shown that attendance and graduation rates improve among students that receive a comprehensive arts education.

Question 3: What do you think the role of the School Board should be in ensuring that students have continued access to a broad range of study subjects, including the arts (broadly defined)?

It is part of a School Board’s job to set and approve curriculum. It is there responsibility to make the choices (with input from district staff) as to what classes, lessons, textbooks, etc. will give the students of their district an education that will meet all state standards. But it’s also a School Board’s responsibility to have a vision for what they want their district to be, what kind of learning opportunities will give their students the best and most complete education, and education that will give them the ability to move on to college and/or careers. This by necessity includes basic curriculum in language arts, mathematics and science. But just as necessary are a vigorous and varied arts curriculum, also vocational and technical education, computers and technology, health and fitness and special education. We need to make sure students have the opportunities to experience a wide range of subjects, thereby expanding their knowledge base and learning about jobs/careers that they might not otherwise even know exist. 

Question 4: Do you see a role for arts education in the development of district Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs)? If so, how would you hope to use arts education to advance the eight priority areas identified in the LCAP template?

Arts education should absolutely be part of district LACPs. I believe expanding arts education opportunities can touch on all eight priority areas, but particularly in the areas of Course Access, Implementation of State Standards, Student Achievement, Student Engagement and School Climate. I noted in one of the previous answers some of the ways arts education can increase achievement and also aligns well with Common Core goals. Access to the arts also helps make students more connected to and involved in their schools and can decrease dropout and suspension rates. In the first years of the LCAP in our district we have made increasing access to arts and music education one of our central goals. We’ve designated funding for:

• a full-time Arts/CTE Coordinator and TSA
• maintaining the current staffing of elementary music teachers
• musical instrument repair
• secondary arts supplies
• Arts professional development, including PD for teachers on how to incorporate arts into their instruction of other classes
• English learners theater arts integration program

These are just a few of the ways that arts can be used to drive results within the various priority areas.