Advocacy and Administration - Dennis Argul

Dennis Argul dennisargul@gmail.com

On Monday, November 16, 2020, ArtsEdNJ sent a memo to All New Jersey Arts Educators, Administrators, Principals, Superintendents, Executive County Superintendents, School Board Members, Health Officers, Governor Phil Murphy, Commissioner of Health Judith M. Persichilli, Acting Commissioner of Education Angelica Allen-McMillan, New Jersey State Board of Education President Kathy Goldenberg, LEE Group, and the NJDOE Reopen Team. The memo provided updated guidance and key findings from the University of Colorado COVID-19 Aerosol Dispersion Study Preliminary Findings #3 November 2020. It provided important information relative to the following areas: Guidance for Instrumental Music (Wind Instruments); Guidance for Vocal and General Music with Singing, Theatre, Speech and Debate, and Dance; Rehearsal Space Recommendations; General Procedures; and Guidance Regarding HVAC for All Spaces.

It also referred all to the following document: https://www.artsednj.org/wp-content/uploads/NJ-September-Ready-Arts-Ed-Guidance.pdf

If you have not yet read and reviewed the information provided in this document, I would suggest that now it a good time to do so. As we approach the season when budgets are discussed for the next academic year and, at the time of this writing, there are concerns from the membership regarding the role of music education and music educators in our various districts and schools, using the information included in this document can be a resource and tool as we continue to advocate for our craft and programs.

Here are the September Ready Key Principles:

Students in ALL Instructional Models. As defined by the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in the Visual and Performing Arts and reaffirmed with the June 2020 adoption of these standards by the New Jersey State Board of Education and outlined in The Road Back, Restart and Recover Plan for Education, sequential arts learning aligned to standards must be maintained regardless of the instructional delivery models (in-person with restrictions, hybrid, or in the event health consideration require, remote). Arts educators demonstrated the ability to provide continuity of instruction during the Spring of 2020. This provides a level of confidence in the ability of New Jersey’s 8,000 arts educators to operate in any model, with the proper planning and professional development.

Safety Requirements. Arts Education programs will require the proper staffing and support to ensure continuity of instruction. This includes maintaining certified arts educators to provide sequential instruction, materials and supplies to allow for the instruction based on health and safety requirements, recommendations, and best practices.

cluded in the District Planning. Arts educators and arts administrators have been closely reviewing and staying up to date on all of the latest research, strategies, and best practices both nationally and internationally. The collective knowledge will be a critical asset to school administrations and board members as they prepare to reopen schools this September.

of the Arts Together. While there are many aspects of arts education that have been successful in remote environments there is one very critical aspect that was not: creating dance, music, theatre or visual art together. This is what students identified as missing the most when they were suddenly out of their schools. As districts contemplate various models of return, when the students are in school, the emphasis should be placed on creating artistic works together and focus on those artistic elements that cannot be done remotely.

Instruction. As outlined in The Road Back, Restart and Recover Plan for Education conditions for learning must address “social and emotional and environmental factors that can impact educators’ capacity to teach and students’ capacity to learn.” Arts Education plays a critical role in supporting the social and emotional needs of students. Schools should be intentional so that educators are prepared to successfully embed transformative social and emotional learning into instructional practices in the arts. 6. Professional Development Must be Provided. In order to be most effective in the new environments when our schools reopen, and as outlined in The Road Back, Restart and Recover Plan for Education, our educators must be afforded every opportunity, and necessary resources, to engage in professional development in relevant areas to engage in meaningful instruction.

be Utilized for Instructional Support. New Jersey’s cultural organizations play a critical role in the education of our students. From assembly programs, field trips, artist residencies, and collaborative projects these organizations provide extended educational experiences in the Arts, as well as other core content areas. As our schools reopen, they should look for appropriate opportunities for cultural organizations to continue to contribute to the educational landscape.

The September Ready 2020 document also includes the value of Arts Education:

It is imperative that all students have access to an equitable delivery of arts education that includes dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts that supports their educational, social, and emotional well-being, taught by certified professional arts educators in partnership with community arts providers.

Teaching and learning will never quite be the same in our post-COVID-19 world. However, our commitment to provide rich and varied educational experiences remains unwavering. The arts have played an important role in these tumultuous times and will continue to do so for all students, including the traditionally underrepresented, those with special needs, and from low-income families. Here’s why:

Arts education supports the social and emotional wellbeing of students, whether through distance learning or in person. Self-awareness, self-efficacy, self-management and perseverance, social awareness and relationship skills are central to any arts education activity, no matter the age and ability of the student or the environment in which the learning takes place. The arts, with their strong emphasis on teambuilding and self-reflection are supremely suited to reignite students’ interest in learning through collaboration, while simultaneously fostering creativity, critical thinking, and communication.

Arts education nurtures the creation of a welcoming school environment where students can express themselves in a safe and positive way. Celebrating our ability to come together as educators and students is vital to creating a healthy and inclusive school community. The arts, through a rich partnership among certified arts educators, teaching artists, and community arts providers, play a valuable role in helping students and their families build and sustain community and cultural connections.

Arts education is part of a well-rounded education for all students as understood and supported by federal and state policymakers. As defined in ESSA, “music and the arts” are part of a well-rounded education. Every state in the nation recognizes the importance of the arts as reflected in rigorous PreK-12 state arts standards. Forty-six states require an arts credit to receive a high school diploma, and 43 states have instructional requirements in the arts for elementary and secondary schools. As noted in Arts Education for America’s Students: A Shared Endeavor: “An education without the arts is inadequate.”

Finally, in a statement from Arts Education is Essential (June 2020) Consortium of National Arts Education Organizations:

The healing and unifying power of the arts has been evident as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the country. We have seen and heard it play out through works of art on sidewalks, shared musical moments from porches, in plays and dance performances, and every other imaginable iteration of art making. As our state and schools work through multiple challenges in the years ahead, arts education must remain central to a well-rounded education and fully funded to support the wellbeing of all students and the entire school community.

Now, perhaps more than ever, we need to all be strong and determined individual arts advocates. Strong for our own programs, schools, districts and communities, and determined to provide our students with the arts education they deserve.

Dennis Argul dennisargul@gmail.com

Happy Winter everyone! I hope this article finds you healthy and happy! To highlight some of the work of our Music Administrators in the field, I plan to bring some of their stories for us all to learn more about their journeys and their craft. For this edition of Tempo, I have interviewed Dr. Laura Craig, Supervisor of the Performing Arts for the Bridgewater – Raritan Schools.

Laura, you and I worked together a lot this summer on the September Ready Task Force, can you describe what your role was on that team and what did you learn from the experience?

That was such an intense time. Here we were in the middle of an unprecedented crisis trying to provide resources, guidance, and whatever support we could to all of our colleagues across New Jersey as districts were grappling with what arts education would look like in these virtual and hybrid settings. I had the privilege of working alongside a large group of amazing music educators (yourself included!) on the K-12 General & Choral Music committee of the task force. I shared the co-chair responsibility with Lisa Vartanian, who has been an incredible mentor and colleague to me for several years, and I always learn so much working alongside Lisa. Despite the challenging circumstances and immense time crunch, it was incredible to witness the creativity, ingenuity, and determination of that group of teachers. There were so many unanswered questions and yet we were proud of the work we accomplished.

What are some of the learnings from the summer that you were able to bring to your district and faculty?

The biggest takeaway from that work over the summer was that we were going to need to focus on what we CAN do this year, rather than what we can’t do. Yes, there are incredible restrictions and limitations right now. I certainly did and do not dismiss those challenges. When we started the year, there was space for naming and acknowledging those limitations and for venting those frustrations. There was a fair amount of crying. I can’t imagine it has been different in other districts. The losses feel substantial right now, and they are even more marked because as music teachers there is a huge personal investment and emotional connection to our students and to our work. That’s ok. The crying is ok too, I think, because it’s real and it’s where we are right now. I hope it helps teachers recognize that if the challenges are so difficult for us right now, it can only be harder on our students who are feeling the loss of their ‘normalcy’. But we can and we are continuing to do incredible things for our students and for music education. The landscape has changed so dramatically, though, that we cannot compare what we are doing now to anything from ‘before’. So many teachers feel discouraged and feel as though their teaching is not meeting their own expectations - and I really understand and empathize with this struggle. My “supervising” - whatever that may mean - is not meeting my own expectations these days, either. But just because the goals are different right now does not mean they are less important or worthwhile. I continue to believe that we will take all that we have learned (even if we didn’t really ask to learn it) during this time to improve and build upon our programs and our teaching practice in incredible ways in the years to come. We, along with our students, will come through this with a renewed appreciation for the simple and incredible experience of making music with others. Of being a part of a greater whole within an ensemble, class, or team. Of levering individual skills and talents through a collaborative process that inspires growth and persistence and values many different perspectives and ideas.

Can you tell me a little bit about your journey to becotheming Supervisor at Bridgewater-Raritan? Where did you teach? Had you been an instructional leader before this position?

I’m a Pennsylvania transplant to New Jersey. After my undergrad and a year of teaching in Pittsburgh, I relocated to Bayonne and taught K-8 General Music and Chorus and was heavily involved with the theatre program there. I moved into my first supervisor role in Bayonne as well, as the supervisor of the Academy programs that were implemented at Bayonne High School. I came to Bridgewater-Raritan in 2017 to assume the role of Supervisor of Performing Arts.

You recently completed your Doctorate as well. What did you study and how do you feel this degree is bringing your leadership abilities to the next level?

I have my Doctor of Education in K-12 Educational Leadership. My research centered around the elementary classroom and how we can work to create and sustain learning environments that are inclusive of students of all gender identities. I’m not sure that completing my dissertation or my doctorate is or will bring my leadership to the “next level” - but I did learn a great deal through the process.

Since becoming Supervisor at BWR, have you made any changes, or updates in the department? What kinds of alterations have you made? What is your vision with the department?

In B-R we have a five-year program evaluation process, and I led my department through that process last year. We have an incredible team of educators here, and most of the time all I have to do is get out of their way (or figure out how to clear the way for them) and then stand back and watch the magic happen. But we are excited to build upon our existing strengths here. Our program evaluation committee developed comprehensive recommendations for the growth and development of the performing arts department, most of which are nicely timed with the release of the new 2020 NJSLS for Visual & Performing Arts. Our big picture goals are to increase access and opportunity in the performing arts for the students of Bridgewater-Raritan and to ensure that our programs support all types of learners and address their needs in a relevant and meaningful way. Now in the age of Covid, while it may feel our work is stalled, I think these times may reveal an even greater path to increasing that opportunity for all students.

Even in the face of the challenges this year, we were able to implement a few of our recommendations already, including the addition of a classical guitar program at the high school. There are now two sections of high school students studying music, developing skill on an instrument, and exploring composition and improvisation. Prior to this year, we only offered our traditional ensemble courses in grades 9-12, so this is a big change that provides opportunity to more students in our large, comprehensive high school. I’m excited about this new addition and so impressed and proud of the work the teachers are doing with the new course. I just can't wait to see where we can go from here.

Can you share what your strategies are for music/arts advocacy in your district and community?

To me, arts advocacy is a three-part process. Evaluate, Educate, and Celebrate. Most of the time, you are doing all three of these things simultaneously, and one is never more important than the others. You take stock of your programs, the perceptions, and the priorities in the community and in the district, and the areas where there is the potential for future growth and increased opportunity for students. You work to educate your community and stakeholders about the value of arts education for ALL students, and about the aspects of an arts program that get less public attention than performances. And, of course, you proudly celebrate the arts - the students, the teachers, their work, and the way in which the arts help to shape and enhance a school, a district, and a community.

Celebrating, of course, is the easiest, and the most fun! The public nature of concerts, performances, and exhibits lend themselves to important publicity and recognition, but true advocacy demands more than the celebration of these programs. While public performances are an essential aspect of an arts program, they will not be the reason a program gets funding or support. This comes when the work is put into ensuring your arts education program truly exists for ALL students and is an essential part of a child’s holistic education. I believe that a community that supports and values an arts education program is one that understands that opportunities for students to explore and create in a first grade music class are just as important as the performances of the top high school ensembles at the spring concert.

What are aspects of being a Supervisor that you have learned through experience that you may not have necessarily studied in your training?

Well, while I am a supervisor, I’m an educator, first. I think the interesting thing about teaching is that we all come to it with our own lived experiences of what it was to be a student. Most of us who have become music teachers had

positive experiences in our music programs when we went to school, and of course we are going to be driven by those experiences and in many cases looking to emulate those positive experiences for our own students. It is sort of like becoming a parent. Before you have your own kids, your experiences growing up shape how you think you will parent, or how you view other parents and their choices. But of course once you have your own children, who are their own tiny little human beings that have individual and unique needs, you may be guided by those principles and predispositions, but most of parenting is responding to somebody else’s needs and choices, not your own, and just figuring out what actually works.

And so as a teacher or as an administrator, it’s critical to reflect on the fact that something that maybe made sense for you and what you experienced going through school may not be the perfect approach for the actual students sitting in front of you today. And we can pay homage to the experiences of our past, we can honor what was great, we can reflect on what maybe turned some kids away, or led to some challenges, and we can recognize that the kids in front of us today are not the same as the kids we were when we were sitting in the classroom. And so it is right and it is good for things to evolve and for us to constantly be considering the needs of our actual students, not the needs of our imagined future students or what our own needs were when we were students.

So, I think the answer to your question is that the most valuable lesson I have learned is that our experiences are important as they help us learn, but we should not let experience or past practices become an obstacle to change or blind us to different possibilities. I would have likely answered this question the same way even before Covid, but of course we can look at everything that is happening right now. Nothing in my education or experience prepared me to support teachers and students through these months of virtual and hybrid learning due to the Covid pandemic. During most of the spring and summer, we had more unanswered questions than ever before - and it was so difficult to not have those answers or that clear guidance for my teachers. We have no choice right now but to embrace the unknown, the new and the different, and to let go of some of our old practices that may not make sense for our actual students right now.

What are you most challenging and, in contrast, most rewarding experiences as a Supervisor thus far?

When I transitioned into administration, I struggled with feeling disconnected from students. There are all sorts of challenges in this role, but I still mention this as one of the biggest challenges because it helped me quickly identify just how important it was for me to try to maintain that connection, somehow. I actively seek opportunities to connect personally with students and their families. I insert myself into the high school choir rehearsals when I really need to be around students making music the most (and I have a very gracious and welcoming colleague in our high school choir director John Wilson, who allows me to crash his rehearsals from time to time). And nothing is more rewarding for me than visiting and singing or playing along with an elementary music class. As I am saying this out loud, I realize that this is a bit selfish of me! But it makes me feel more ‘whole’ as an educator when I maintain that connection to students, which in turn probably makes me more effective at my job and more attuned to the needs of students - which is, after all, the “why” of our work.

The New Jersey Music Administration is excited about the upcoming meetings and the relevance of the topics. Here are the NJMAA meeting dates and topics are the following:

December 11: SEL Crosswalk Facilitator: Bob Morrison, ArtsEdNJ

February 5: Collegiate Connection Facilitator: Joe Akinskas

April 16: Engaging the Community: Ideas for Building Community Support Facilitators: Lisa Vartanian and Donna Sinisgalli

June 4: Traversing the ‘New Normal’: A Reflection on 2020-21-Roundtable Facilitator: Jonathan Harris, NJMAA President

If you are in a district where your are supervised by a ‘non-arts’ administrator, please share this information with them, and encourage them to reach out to NJMAA for more information and any assistance they may need.

For more information, please visit: www.njmaa.org