The talent of Chula Vista High School’s arts program was on full display Monday evening as dozens of musicians played in the fading glow of sunset.
But they weren’t performing for a packed stadium or theater audience. The group of more than 100 Chula Vista High students had rallied outside the Sweetwater School District board meeting to ask officials to protect their legendary arts program.
Recent decisions by the district may be putting the future of the program in jeopardy, students and teachers said.
Chula Vista High could lose as many as seven faculty members unless the district grants the school additional funding to cover their salaries, according to several teachers. Students and teachers also accused district officials of planning to rewrite Chula Vista High’s schedule in ways that would dramatically cut back students’ time for arts and other electives.
Monday’s rally came just days after scores of Chula Vista High students held a walkout to protest possible changes. At the rally, dozens of parents and teachers joined students as they performed and chanted in the district parking lot.
“As students in the arts, our opportunities will be very limited if this program leaves,” said Kevin Gonzalez, a senior at Chula Vista High. “We won't really know what we're missing until we actually lose it.”
Sweetwater officials declined a request for an interview. In an email to KPBS on Tuesday, a district spokesperson said that Chula Vista High’s schedule was “currently under administrative consideration.”
Chula Vista High’s award-winning School of Creative and Performing Arts is known districtwide for its unique classes and focused curriculum.
The arts school includes classical and jazz bands, a theater program, visual arts and an advanced Mexican folk dance class, featuring Folklorico and other traditional dances. Those programs have earned state and regional awards, including from the GRAMMY Foundation and the California School Boards Association.
Rather than taking just a handful of creative electives, students in the school are able to take multiple classes and declare majors in different programs.
“They don't just get one low level course — they get depth,” said Maria Galleher, a Chula Vista High teacher and parent of a former student. “That is just a powerful combination for college and work.”
The program is also supported by Chula Vista High’s eight-period schedule, which the school adopted more than five years ago. Students said that schedule gives them more flexibility to take creative classes during the school day instead of having to come to school early or stay late.
“I feel like it's completely changed my life,” said senior Jacob Davidson, who conducts the school band and plays on the varsity football team. “The ability to do the two things that I love — football and band — has been absolutely amazing.”
Many students also said the program allowed them to collaborate with the same group of people and build lasting connections.
“I've made so many friends that I consider family,” said Quinton Rivera, a junior in the school’s theater program and another organizer of the rally.
“Our band community is the most loving community I've ever been to,” said Marriane Agonos, a senior and the president of the school band. “It taught me to be the best version of myself.”
Now, students and faculty worry that several changes could fracture the future of the arts program.
The biggest change is a recent hike in wages for educators who specialize in teaching technical skills, or CTE teachers. That change came late last year as Sweetwater Union School District negotiated a new contract with Sweetwater Education Association, the teachers’ union.
During negotiations, the district agreed to raise wages for CTE teachers by elevating them from part-time employees to full-time faculty. But the district did not agree to cover those pay increases. Instead, teachers said schools were told that they would have to cover those wages themselves or cut back on their staff.
That decision in particular, students and teachers said, would take a toll on Chula Vista High’s arts school, which relies heavily on technical skills-focused educators. Right now, the school employs 15 CTE instructors – more than any other school in the district, according to school faculty.
In December, students at Southwest High School, which also works with a large number of CTE instructors and is in the process of testing out an eight-period schedule, protested the district’s decision not to cover the salary increases too.
Chula Vista High teachers and students also said they had heard that the district was considering ordering the school to revert back to a six-period schedule.
“We've been hearing rumors for months that the district wanted to put CVH back on a six-period day,” Chula Vista High teacher Deborah Nevin told the Sweetwater District Board of Supervisors during their meeting Monday. “We don’t know where this came from.”
Nevin said administrators had previously voiced worries that the eight-period schedule was expensive and was not meeting the needs of Chula Vista High students. But she said that switching back to a six-period schedule would be another blow to the school’s arts program and cut back on all students’ access to elective classes.
A district spokesperson declined to comment citing “ongoing administrative consideration.”
Sweetwater Education Association President Lucy Ugarte said the union was currently exploring whether it would be legal for the district to change a school’s schedule. In many cases, she said, those changes have to be decided through a vote of the school’s teachers.
Galleher also pointed out that schools in Coronado and Poway have both adopted versions of the eight-period schedule, along with some schools in San Diego Unified School District.
“(In) a lot of other districts around the country, especially upper income districts, parents are demanding eight periods,” she said. “Our kids deserve the same opportunities.”
Nevin said the Chula Vista High community wanted to be part of finding a solution.
“We have ideas and believe we can get to a win-win if the district can give us a forum for our ideas and, in the meantime, provide time and support to weather this transition,” she said.
Rivera said they were hopeful. To them, the number of students who showed up to the rally was evidence of just how many people care about the future of the arts program.
“I've never seen kids so united,” they said.
