District 33C Approves One Art Teacher Position For Elementary Schools

HOMER GLEN, IL — Earlier this spring, Homer District 33C approved one full-time certified elementary school art teacher position for next school year, in part thanks to a group of parents who supported more art education in the district.

The group of parents spoke out at several board meetings earlier this year about the lack of art education for elementary school-aged children in the District.

Students had previously received art education from a parent volunteer program.

"When our son started Kindergarten, volunteering for art seemed like a good way to use our talents to get involved at his school," District 33C parents Josh and Clare Lund told Patch. "Both of us are career educators, and volunteering that involved teaching seemed like a great fit for the experience we already had. The curriculum does a decent job showing students a broad swath of artists and their styles. We’ve always had a great time doing projects and teaching with the kids, and they do really creative work."

However, the Lunds said they had concerns about the program, and "this is the only school district we’ve ever even heard of that relies exclusively on a parent volunteer system instead of having an art program."

Difficulties included the consistency of instruction and support for those volunteers who may not have much teaching experience.

Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Michael Szopinski told Patch that elementary students [early childhood to fourth grade] receive one quarter per year of art instruction.

From fifth to eighth grade, art is an elective for students.

When asked how one teacher would handle education across multiple schools, Szopinski said, "The elementary art teacher will be one quarter at Butler School, one quarter at Schilling School, one quarter at Goodings and Young School."

Szopinski added that the district's elementary art committee is reviewing current electives for elementary students.

"We will research the practices of other school districts with elementary specials, discuss other options as a committee and create an elementary specials schedule proposal that we believe is the best balance for elementary students. One of the options we are considering is adding an additional elementary art teacher," he said.