Burbank Unified officials paint a clearer picture of the district’s efforts in arts education

More than three dozen parents attended a community meeting last week featuring a panel of several Burbank school officials who spoke to the decisions that go into implementing arts into Burbank’s 20 schools, a growing focus in Burbank.

“Everything boils down to, ‘How does this positively impact students?’” said Peggy Flynn, Burbank’s arts and career technical education coordinator, when she spoke during an Aug. 31 meeting on how decisions are made surrounding new arts curriculum.

New arts programs must be sustainable and not threatened under budgetary pressure soon after implementation, Flynn said.

Burbank School Board President Larry Applebaum knows the impact of a program that ceases under budget cuts. He recalled how Burbank school officials made severe cuts to arts education in the early 1990s.

“Once you give something up, it’s another generation until you get it back,” Applebaum said.

The school district joined the countywide Arts For All initiative in 2004.

At that time, much of the district’s arts education was supported by booster clubs and PTAs, according to a county report, and that financial support varied among schools.

In 2006, the Burbank Arts For All Foundation was established with a mission to provide quality arts curriculum to all Burbank students.

A decade later, the foundation, run by Executive Director Trena Pitchford, has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into local schools and built partnerships with community organizations to bring about a steady resurgence of arts education.

The foundation has paid for teaching artists to instruct students in music and visual arts, provided tools for teachers and professional development, and paid to send students to visit museums, among other efforts.

More recently, Burbank school officials have become passionate about its comprehensive arts plan, and under Supt. Matt Hill, school board members have recently begun to discuss top priorities during special study sessions.

School officials still see room for improvement across the district, and spoke to goals they want to meet in the next three years.

Daniel Swartz, a Burbank arts teacher on special assignment, spoke about a desire for expanding general music instruction to students in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grades from the instruction already offered in grades second through fifth. School officials are also looking to offering instrumental music to students in the upper elementary grades

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Sept. 9, 2016, 4:04 p.m.

For the record: A previous version of this story stated that music was offered in kindergarten, first and second grades and that Swartz’s desire was to expand instruction to the third, fourth and fifth grades.

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Others, including Hill, spoke to adding drama and dance programs at each of the middle schools.

In the absence of robust state funding for education, Hill also advocates for voters passing Proposition 55 to extend Proposition 30’s income tax on the wealthy that would send billions into schools statewide.

Flynn said the district’s arts goals will take “a coming together of the entire community,” and clarified that Burbank Unified isn’t aiming to make every student an artist. They’re pushing to send well-rounded students into the world, no matter the field the students ultimately pursue.