A New Course of Action : Mary Butler School Uses the Arts as a Foundation for Academics

As a working mother who wanted her daughter to attend a good school and also get dance and music lessons, Leslie Curtis-Moore found herself constantly juggling a hectic schedule. She also shelled out $375 a month for private school tuition, musical instrument rentals, clarinet lessons and ballet classes.

Then she enrolled her 10-year-old daughter, Tiffany, in Mary Butler School, a new Long Beach public school billed as a center for creative and performing arts.

“I don’t expect (Tiffany) to dance the ballet, or play in a symphony orchestra,” Curtis-Moore said. “But she’s getting a broad exposure to the arts . . . without the stress (and cost) of all the rushing around.”

Administrators say that only a few of the 750 students are likely to become artists and performers. The goal is to use an arts education to make students art lovers as well as more successful, well-rounded adults.

The school, which serves grades three through eight, has two indoor theaters, an outdoor theater, a video recording studio and an animation laboratory. There are 20 pianos, music synthesizers and computers with music-related software.

Course offerings, which are taught in three-month blocks, include cartooning, country dance and instrument-making. Some classes have a less obvious link to the arts than others. In a beginning sewing class, for example, students learn fashion and costume design.

In all, students can choose from 24 electives. The classes take place during a 50-minute afternoon period.

In the morning, students attend required academic classes, in which teachers make a particular effort to integrate the arts, said Principal Judi McEachen.

In one class, for example, students fashioned African masks to the sounds of recorded drum beats as a supplement to their study of African tribal history.

The school is not a real-life incarnation of the television series “Fame,” where students at a performing arts high school devoted themselves almost entirely to sweat-drenched, painstaking rehearsals to shape themselves into professional performers. In fact, students who opt for only sports electives could graduate without ever taking an art class.

But all students receive exposure to the arts through field trips to such locations as the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for concerts. The school also teaches students “about being good audiences and appreciative of what’s going on,” said school district spokesman Dick Van Der Laan.

One such student is eighth-grader Paya Laerdonn, 14, who lives near the school. He said that although he usually prefers taking basketball and volleyball electives rather than art, he was planning to enroll in a video production class. He admitted being “a little” more appreciative of music and theater since coming to the school.

The school stages performances every three months, which appeals to Adam Osoro, an eighth-grader who took part in a one-act play. Osoro said he fell in love with acting about five years ago and enjoys pursuing his career goal at Butler.

Jim Thomas, who oversees the school’s curriculum planning, said that participation in the arts should give students greater self-esteem and better presentation and communications techniques, as well as enhanced performance skills.

“We’ve seen that students who participate in the arts learn better and have longer-lasting learning,” Thomas said.

Mary Butler School, which was formally dedicated in October, is named for a community leader and parent activist who died in 1986. Butler, a mother of eight, worked for more than 40 years to improve schools and ease community racial tensions.

The state provided about $6.5 million from bonds to pay for school construction and some equipment. A $365,000 federal grant helped pay for its indoor theater-in-the-round. A state grant of about $10,000 was used to purchase music and computer equipment.

Corporations and arts organizations have funded field trips, sent guest speakers and helped create arts-related lessons.

“District after district has made cuts to arts during these lean budget times,” said Van Der Laan. “(This campus) is a rare exception to a disturbing trend.”

Students from throughout the district can apply to attend Butler. The school, at 1400 E. 20th St., also draws from the surrounding neighborhood.

About 20 students enrolled in Butler in September after leaving private schools.

“My husband is a mathematician and I believe in the value of art, dance and drama,” said Curtis-Moore, whose daughter attended Long Beach Brethren before transferring. “Now we both have what we wanted.”