Albany Parents Pack City Hall to Speak Out for Children's Enrichment Programs

With rumors flying in recent weeks about Albany Unified School District plans to curtail donation-supported elementary school programs, from chess to art and music, nearly 100 people crowded into City Hall on Tuesday, some to advocate for specific schools, and others to plead for fairness across campuses.

About 20 parents and teachers addressed the Board of Education during the public comment period, urging officials not to take away their ability to provide opportunities for their children. The conversation lasted more than two hours, as parents leaned on tables and sat on the floor, taking up nearly every available bit of the room's real estate.

Many parents said they feared district efforts would stop them from deciding how donations are spent and lead to less involvement and generosity in much-needed volunteer efforts. 

"I think we give when there's a direct connection to our child," said parent Cathy Cha, whose daughter is a second grader at Marin Elementary. "We give generously...and we give on top of what we give to the PTA. To SchoolCare, the Music Fund, the Education Foundation. We give to all of those."

Donations to Albany's three elementary schools, Cornell, Marin and Ocean View, have gone a long way to help maintain high standards and a focus on the "whole child," many said.

Some of those donations, to SchoolCare, for example, pay for teacher salaries. Others, to the Albany Education Foundation, cover mini-grants for projects and field trips. Donations to the PTA cover materials and improvements, and other donations, directly to schools, can pay for instruction in special areas aimed at enrichment. 

These programs, which can last for weeks or months, take place during school hours and are taught by instructors who contract with schools to teach a broad range of "enrichment activities," from chess and poetry to art and music.

It's these programs that have been put on pause while the district seeks to put into effect a range of policies the Board of Education adopted last year designed to ensure "equity" among all Albany schools.

As part of that effort, the Albany Unified School District explained it would take responsibility for "all gifts, grants and bequests" to area schools with the goal of "providing equal educational opportunities" for all.

What exactly this will look like remains completely unclear, but parents and teachers last night said they had been told certain treasured programs no longer would be offered unless all three schools agreed to pursue them. 

Officials assured parents they wanted to protect the individual cultures of each elementary school, and that equity "doesn't mean equal," said Superintendent Marla Stephenson.

"It doesn't mean the same thing. If we're going to emphasize the arts, each school has the opportunity to grab onto the art they most value and support it through enrichment," she said. "I'm interpreting that to mean not identical, but the same length of program, the same quality of program."

Part of the impetus for this stemmed from board members learning last school year that a number of special programs available at Cornell and Marin are not offered at Ocean View. 

Ocean View has a higher population of English learners and more student poverty, which is calculated by the number of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch. 

"I'm not here to say, 'Feel sorry for us, pity us,' in any way," said school Principal Terry Georgeson. "But we are also a very diverse community, and that, in my opinion, requires us to look beneath the cover of the book and explore what sits under it."

Later in the evening, she added: "Until all of us can have what some have, I ask that nobody have it."

Though the evening seemed to begin with the understanding that parent donations at Marin and Cornell are much higher that those at Ocean View, some explained that the problem actually is that Ocean View parents have to use their donations to meet basic services and needs, or help subsidize field trips for children who can't afford them, rather than on the kinds of enrichment opportunities the other schools have.

School board officials said they would work to get a better understanding about donations and programming at each campus, and scheduled a Nov. 3 "study session" to continue delving deeper into this issue. (The date later was changed to Nov. 16.)

Parents said, up to this point in the current school year, they have been told not to arrange special programs, and at least one music teacher said she was told her program, at Cornell for eight years, would be eliminated.

(Officials said her program had not been eliminated, but offered no other information during the public meeting about which courses, if any, could be scheduled this fall.)

School board member Miriam Walden apologized to parents for failing to communicate about program changes, adding that "we should have been having this conversation before." 

Many parents agreed with this sentiment, and pressed to find out what would happen now. Officials said the goal was not to cut back on programs, but that equity needed to be at the forefront of the conversation.

Holly White said parents already have seen cuts and changes in the classroom, which they'd been told were the result of the district's new equity policies. 

"I'm heartened to hear this is not about cutting programs at schools, but it's already happening," she said. "If there's not a policy putting this into place, how is that happening? We're hearing things like, 'If you choose music and Ocean View doesn't have it, you can't have it.' That's why there's such a big population of Marin parents here. We've already seen the effect at our school."

The board did not respond individually to most questions, but described Tuesday as the start of a lengthy conversation "to come up with good answers about what do we mean by equity and how do we achieve it," said board member Paul Black. "As a board, we did discuss equity last year... but we didn't really talk about what we meant by equity. Now it's time we're going to start that conversation. It's not something we're going to decide tonight."

Parent John Montagh, who has two children at Marin, said the turnout Tuesday night made it clear that parents are willing to step in and "help the community get through this process." He asked the board, and was met by booming clapping and cheering, to "let programs continue until we are able to have a definitive understanding of the issues."

The board did not make any specific determinations during Tuesday's meeting about what would happen with the elementary school enrichment programs.

Many acknowledged that parents had stepped up during tough budget times to try to maintain quality for Albany schools, and said they appreciated the open exchange at the meeting. 

"I came here tonight angry and honestly not understanding the issue at all," said Marin parent Monica Garcia. "There were a lot of misunderstandings that some schools wanted programs, and some didn't want them, so things were getting taken away....

"At Marin, in the first grade class, we're asked to donate $40 for students to go on field trips. If that's not possible in other schools and that's how they're using PTA money, that's not equitable," she said, adding that parents had felt blindsided because of the lack of communication from the district.

She added, like many, that she moved to Albany for the strong community and schools, and said residents are fortunate to live in a place "where all children will be able to have an Albany school experience. I think that's what's really important. We've been getting really worried about 'our' money and what's 'ours.' But we live in an abundant community and we can be abundant to everyone."

Stay tuned for details on Albany Patch about the November study session, and share your own views about equity here.