Shaker Administrators and Board Members,
To say that the last several days have been disheartening would be a gross understatement. Learning that the Shaker Theatre Arts Department would be absorbed into a generic “Performing Arts Department” has been a real gut-punch, to both myself and my students. When I was hired into the position of Chair for this department in 2013, I inherited a program that was determined to continue worn out practices in the name of tradition. Since joining the Shaker faculty, I have worked hard to create an open, accepting, and welcoming space for young artists to explore the Theatre Arts in a way that not only enriches their knowledge, but also gives them a sense of belonging and personal investment in something bigger than themselves.
As uncertainty grows in the public education sphere, the recent cuts to district expenditures are understandable. The current financial situation may call for these measures. Although you have chosen to eliminate my position as Department Chair, I would feel negligent in my duties for the few remaining days that I have in this role if I didn’t not make an attempt to save this department’s name. While we may just appear as a line-item to an audit committee, the Shaker Theatre Arts Department has existed since the 1980s. That 40+ year tradition has given the theatre students in the district a sense of belonging to something unique in this corner of the state. Shaker has been the envy of other high school theatre programs for years. Despite our crumbling infrastructure at the high school, and the myriad recent schedule changes, security issues, and an administrative revolving door, our program continues to place students in national competitions and top collegiate programs, win awards and nominations for our productions, and garner accolades from industry professionals for our quality of work and commitment to student artists. It means something to people outside of our school that a student was part of the Shaker Theatre Arts Department.
While I will do everything within my professional skill set to continue this work for as long as I work in Shaker, the message to our students, families, and community is clear: the Arts are one of the first things to go. Even if all of the classes run, the productions still get staged, and the students still get to the conferences, master classes, and workshops that we have supported, they are being told that this unique program isn’t worth the $3000 being cut in the name of austerity. I am less concerned with the supplemental contract that supports my role as Department Chair, than I am with making sure our students have a named place to call home. I am less concerned with being titled, than I am with maintaining a place at the table to advocate for our program within building leadership conversations.
As far as budgetary concerns, let me offer a few points to consider. First, we have managed to keep our program mostly in the black for my entire tenure. Since being hired in Shaker we have changed many legacy practices and, on 2 separate occasions, I have been asked to reevaluate the supplementals for our department. That resulted in cutting thousands of dollars in overspending from wasted contracts. Additionally, unless I am woefully unaware, our department does not have a budget at the high school. All of our spending has come out of an account that was built over the years, or so I was told, from fundraising and ticket sales. Our programming has managed to spend as much as, or less than, we take in each season.
In place of absorbing our department into a nondescript Performing Arts Department, I am suggesting alternate supplementals can be released from our department. This will turn some of the work that we have done under a supplemental contract into core teaching responsibilities or eliminate some programming altogether, in the name of protecting our place in this building. I would love the opportunity to have a dialogue about how we could adjust our spending in order to allow us to maintain our program. If the goal is truly to save money, let us cooperate in being good stewards of the budget instead of restructuring our program altogether. These cuts/changes would represent a good-faith effort to play our part in achieving district financial goals while still giving our students a sense of a home within our building, maintaining our department in name and function.
I am fully aware that the district is going for a levy this fall, and that high visibility cuts are put in place to show a community what they are losing in case of the levy failing. Upon hearing of these changes, my students have already begun questioning the optics of installing new turf or spending lots of money on outside instructional vendors like Character Strong. I am sure that their families and our alumni will also have opinions to share. I’ll do what I can to provide a space where my students will continue to enjoy the family that we have created, but a family without a place to call home feels different; diminished somehow.
I have heard a lot of messaging around the idea of Shaker being the ‘district of choice’ for area families. Our special and rich programming makes that choice an easy one for so many families. Without marquee programs such as the Shaker Theatre Arts Department, among others, what makes Shaker rise above our neighboring communities for families deciding where to settle? I have been told over and over again by administrators that Shaker supports the Arts. I also know that we like to remind our residents that a community is known by the schools that it keeps. Please don’t let our community know our schools by the programs it cuts.
Scott J. Sumerak
Shaker Theatre Arts Director
