Parents, teachers and partners urge board to preserve Fine Arts Institute amid budget review

Lucinda Roberts, the Fine Arts Institute coordinator at East High School, told the board she is retiring in June and asked trustees to "find a solution that allows the Fine Arts Institute to thrive and not fade away," saying the program has served 729 students since 2011 and that community donors have contributed nearly $2 million since 2007.

"The arts matter and especially to low socioeconomic students," Roberts said, arguing the institute provides private lessons, master classes and community performance opportunities that build students' confidence and postsecondary prospects.

Allison Fleck, executive director of Midsummer's Music, described a partnership that brings professional string instruction into district classrooms and said it "expands what the district can offer in a highly efficient way." Roy Meyer of the Griffin String Quartet said the partnership helped students gain confidence and admission to selective colleges, noting students who studied under Griffin have gone on to Princeton, Brown and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Middle‑school violin student Molly Gifford performed and said lessons through the partnership "allowed me to find my confidence and has driven me to excel in other areas," telling the board she will continue violin study at East High's Fine Arts Institute next year.

Speakers framed the appeals in terms of access and return on investment: Roberts and other presenters asked the board to consider that shuttering the institute would deprive low‑income students of opportunities that community donors and partner organizations have supported for years.

Board members did not take immediate action on the request during the meeting; the superintendent's written and oral reports that followed discussed district retention, grant activity and planned open houses for schools scheduled to close, and the board proceeded to its reorganization and subsequent votes on policies and personnel pay schedules.

Next steps: speakers asked the board to preserve the institute and to consult with community partners before making decisions about specialty programs; several speakers said they would follow up with materials and asked the board to consider the program's demonstrated student outcomes.