South High School's band is packed wall to wall for practice. The instruments are stored along the wall because there are no lockers to secure them.

Many fine arts facilities cramped, need updating
One of the issues the bond issue plan will address is upgrading outdated fine arts facilities. Thousands of students participate in the district's fine arts programs and enrollment in those programs keep increasing. But many of the district’s fine arts facilities have classrooms that are too small and crowded, have inadequate storage and no place to lock up instruments, have art classrooms with poor ventilation and auditoriums that need major renovations or are too small to accommodate even half of the school population.

The State Board of Education recently added a high school fine arts credit to the graduation requirements. That addition has meant growth in all fine arts classes and because more students are taking those classes, there is not enough room to accommodate them.

"We're packed in so tight," said James Dreiling, band teacher at South High School. "We often move percussion to practice elsewhere because we don't have the space. So that's difficult if the entire band can't play together."

"Our band got super big, super fast and it is super crowded," said Melissa Mock, senior at South. "It's hard to play when you're crowded. You can't play your best when you're concerned about bumping your neighbor with your arms. It's just not good practice. We can't play to our full potential."

Not enough space is also true for art programs at all grade levels. Many elementary schools have art on a cart. Due to growth in population and addition of programs like all-day kindergarten, art teachers don't have a place of their own.

At Riverside Leadership Magnet, the art teacher has to carry her art supplies up and down three flights of stairs.

"This impacts the kind of activities and instruction she can provide for students," said Susan Rosell, principal at Riverside.

Sara Hoch, art teacher at Linwood Elementary, pushes her art cart down the hall. She takes her supplies to different classes because her art room is being used by others due to overcrowding at the school. Photos by Susan Arensman

At Linwood Elementary, both art and music are on carts. Sara Hoch, art teacher at Linwood, says being on a cart impacts not only what she can teach, but how she can teach.

"The students definitely prefer coming to an art classroom instead of having it in their room," Hoch said.

"It also makes a difference in classroom management and discipline. When I go into another teacher's classroom, the students don't always follow my procedures because they can be different from their teacher's. When they come into an art room, they know it's my room, my rules, and we can get a lot more accomplished in class," she said.