Joan Weber

As part of my pledge to Testify for Arts Education, I showed up at the Carroll County (MD) Board of Education meeting on March 9.

The room was full, as the board had recently released its preliminary budget. There were many people in the room who were there to protest cuts to school staffs, including nurse’s aids, teaching assistants and paraprofessionals.

They all wore printed labels saying “Together We Can Make a Difference.” They also all wore band-aids because, as they said, “Our hearts are broken.”

I was worried. I hadn’t brought anyone with me. (Note to self: Next time, bring people with me.)

I was sure that all these people would use the “Citizen Participation” time and my message of arts education would be lost. But, the agenda of the board was clearly divided between citizen participation and employee groups.

There were only two names on the Citizen Participation speakers’ list: mine and the chair of a parents’ group. (Note to self: Next time, bring lots of people with me.)

When my name was called, I went to the podium and delivered my prepared remarks. I spoke about an expanded definition of arts education, one in which the school system recognized the importance of arts specialists, teaching artists, and arts institutions.    

I finished.

Silence.

I had hoped for, I don’t know, a standing ovation?

An exclamation of “Oh, thank goodness you came! Now we understand what we need to do.” I guess I didn’t expect silence.

I sat down. I considered leaving, as the majority of the audience did as their issues came and went. But, I decided to stay until the end and try to meet some of the board members.

The meeting adjourned after about an hour in total. (Note to self: Tell people that the meetings are short and they should attend.)

I stood up and gathered my things.

A young woman came up to me and thanked me for my comments. She said that what I had said was exactly what she had always thought but didn’t know how to express it.

She is an elementary school teacher. She asked for a copy of my remarks so that she could bring them to her principal. I told her that I was disheartened by the silence, but she told me that she had been watching the audience. They were all paying close attention and were nodding their heads in agreement.

As soon as she left, a man approached. He said he was the Assistant Superintendent for Instruction. He wanted my contact information so that he could share it with the Director of Fine Arts. He thanked me for my remarks.

I asked if it would be possible to talk with the Superintendent. He shot out of the room to find him, but returned saying the board had gone into closed session. He recommended that I contact the Superintendent’s office to set up an appointment.

As I was driving away one of the board members was getting in her car. She saw me, smiled, and waved. (I noted her name in my notebook.)

And, that was that. It took three minutes of my time at a podium and I connected with everyone that I needed to at once.

It was painless.

It was in fact kind of exciting.

Lessons learned:
1.    Establish your bona fides with the Board. Take some of your time to delineate how you know what you’re talking about when it comes to arts education.

2.    Ask for something specific. In my case, I didn’t ask for increased funding in times of budget crunches; I asked for an expanded definition of what arts education should look like in the school system.

3.    Stay around after the meeting and connect with as many policymakers as possible. Ask to set up future meetings.

4.    Stay positive. If you stand up there and simply complain, they’ll stop listening. Don’t judge. It creates an antagonistic relationship.

To find the dates of the Board of Education meetings in your district, just go to the district website. They’ll list the meeting dates, how to get on the speakers’ list and a contact for any questions. I used the contact so that I knew what to expect when I arrived. They responded within minutes.

The Board of Education for local school systems determines the budget and curriculum for the district.

Their support is critical if you hope to increase arts education. You don’t need to have kids in the system to testify. You don’t even need to live there. You just need to show up.

Will you show up? Testify for arts education.

It is one of the easiest and most important things you can do for arts education.