Roxhill just found out that Seattle Public Schools wants to reduce our Art teacher, Ms. Binkow, to a half-time position.
Please send an email TODAY so they consider family input before making their decision.
SPS is currently considering an appeal from our school. It is important that we as families and caregivers let the district know that we value having a full-time Art teacher.
Suggested Email Template
Use this template to send an email to the Seattle Public Schools school board members, Superintendent Ben Shuldiner, Chief Operations Officer Fred Podesta, and Visual and Performing Arts Program Manager Gail Frasier.
Be sure to fill in the blanks with your details!
If you can, please customize this email to include details about the personal impact of art education and Ms. Binkow on your student’s experience at Roxhill.
To:
liza.rankin@seattleschools.org,kesmith2@seattleschools.org,jllavallee@seattleschools.org,gktopp@seattleschools.org,vsmaritz@seattleschools.org,jemizrahi@seattleschools.org,eybriggs@seattleschools.org,boshuldiner@seattleschools.org,fhpodesta@seattleschools.org,ghfrasier@seattleschools.org
Subject:
Restore Roxhill Elementary’s full-time Art Teacher position
Dear Superintendent Shuldiner, Mr. Podesta, Ms. Rankin, Ms. Smith, Ms. Briggs, Ms. Topp, Mr. Mizrahi, Ms. Song, Ms. LaVallee, and Ms. Frasier,
I am writing to ask that you restore the Art teacher position at Roxhill Elementary to 1.0. It was by cut by .5 during the June Adjustment.
I am a parent of a _____ grader at Roxhill Elementary in West Seattle. One of the many things I love about our school are the enrichment programs such as art, music, PE, outdoor education, and more. This spring, our school already lost our .5 music teacher and now will also be losing .5 of our art teacher.
Please reconsider this decision with the points below in mind:
- Next school year, Roxhill will house 12 K-5 classrooms, including our Distinct SPED program. It is hard to imagine only 1 PE teacher and a .5 Art teacher being able to serve all of those classes equitably across the week.
- Reducing our Art teacher will mean that grade level teachers no longer share prep periods. We want our teachers to be able to have time within the workday to collaborate and plan with their counterparts, because we know that meaningful collaboration leads to better outcomes for our kids.
- Our Art teacher, Ms. Binkow, co-leads Roxhill’s MTSS efforts, leading to improvements in delivery of services and interventions to students who need them. There is no way she would be able to continue doing this as a .5 employee.
- Roxhill proudly serves a beautifully diverse population, including a high population of students designated as furthest from educational justice. We are a Title I school, and we have experienced so many staffing cuts over the past few years. Our school and teachers need stability and continuity, not to be asked over and over again to do more with less.
- Schools serving affluent populations in West Seattle have been using their PTAs’ fundraising power to buy up music teachers since they heard that their music programs would be cut. While Roxhill has an engaged and hard-working parent teacher organization, Friends of Roxhill, our community simply does not have the resources to even consider buying up staff.
Just last week, the Superintendent’s newsletter applauded the wonderful arts and music programming that SPS offers. Schools can only provide those enriching programs if they have the staffing to build out and sustain those programs. Cutting music and art staff at Roxhill directly undermines providing students across our district with equitable opportunities to engage in the arts.
Please reconsider the June Adjustment and reinstate Roxhill’s Art teacher to a full time position.
Thank you,
__________YOUR NAME___________
Parent of Roxhill ____ grader