Example of personalized letter to local school board members
Marc Davis, an arts education advocate in the Poway school district in San Diego County shared this letter that he sent it to his school board to help them understand the ways that arts education can support the goals of LCFF to help all children succeed.

Hello, my name is Marc Davis and my sons attended Painted Rock, Bernardo Heights and Rancho Bernardo High School. In addition to being a parent, I was also a high school teacher for 17 years, the last 13 as the Band and Orchestra Conductor at Poway High School.

I am here because like all of you I want to see that the students in our schools succeed and I’ve seen first hand the powerful impact arts education can have on students’ academic success.

I am reminded as recently as last month of this impact while attending the Winter Band Concert at Poway High. You probably read or heard the story of Dan Boyle, who was a student of mine at Poway High School. Dan graduated from UCLA with a music degree and went on to be a high school band director in the Bakersfield area. Unfortunately, Dan was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease and given 5 to 15 years to live. Dan wants to leave to his son, Colby, documented memories and advice for when he is gone. Dan asked to come back to Poway and conduct his favorite composition that is performed annually at the Winter Concert. What made this performance so powerful was not only that Dan had the opportunity to conduct for his son, but approximately 50 of his classmates returned to Poway to be part of the experience either to perform in the band or watch and listen. These alumni traveled from all over the US to attend this performance, one as far away as Japan. In speaking with many of the alumni after the concert, they shared with me the impact that the arts had in their lives, in their careers and now with their own children. Dan’s story was picked up by local news organizations, and the Fox 5 News broadcast was shown nationally. That video also appeared on the front pages of aol.com and yahoo.com news pages.

I want to thank the Board and the School District for their support in particular of the performing arts in the District. And I want to acknowledge and thank Elaine Cofrancesco, Michael Rennie and the Poway Center for the Performing Arts Foundation for their efforts to link students to the artists that perform at the Center. In addition, many individual school foundations and PTSAs support arts teachers as they are able. But as you know, access to the arts in the district has been greatly reduced because of continuing budget issues.

We have a new opportunity to envision what our district’s priorities shall be, guided by the priorities of the Local School Funding Formula.

As the district shifts to the new funding formula we must not lose track of our responsibility to arts education.

In that spirit, IBM recently conducted a nationwide study of the impact of the arts in the work force. The data revealed that the most creative and productive employees were those that had a foundation in the arts. The Boeing Corporation has put this information to use to identify applicants to hire as their top tier employees. Additionally, the Boeing Corporation is the lead sponsor for a program called Arts Empower, a county coalition that is supported by the San Diego County Department of Education. Many San Diego County districts participate with Arts Empower, including San Marcos and Vista.

In addition to implementing the LCFF, the district is making the transition to Common Core curriculum. Arts Empower has tools available for arts integration strategies that will enhance the mission of Common Core and should be included in the advancement of the Common Core mission.

My request to the board is to allocate funding to improve the district’s arts education offerings. There are many options. However, I would like to propose the following:

  1. Develop a strategic visual and performing arts plan for the district using Arts Empower resources.
  2. Provide professional development for teachers on arts integration strategies across the curriculum.
  3. Restore the elementary music program to original levels including the 4th grade Introduction to Instruments program.

I am available to assist district administration to evaluate what makes the most sense as a first step. Thank you for your time and consideration.