Hi Nicole,
Thanks for reaching out about your school board meeting this evening. As it is Theatre in our Schools Month, I think the timing couldn't be better to advocate for a curricular middle school theatre program in your district. Here are a few ideas that might support your presentation:
- To begin, yes!-take the high road and talk about all that your high school students have accomplished in your program over the years-current and past and say
"thank you for your support"; if possible cite performance, technical theatre and academic success. If you have achievement numbers-Thespys, scholarships, college acceptance, community engagement, etc-that can go a long way to making it clear that your program's impact goes far beyond the production's you produce annually.
- From there, perhaps drill down and talk about your increased enrollment in the program and how the increased numbers are challenging you to maintain the high quality of teaching and learning that the program has established. And further, with the higher numbers, the difficulty in giving small-group or one-on-one tutoring to students who perhaps have come into the high school program with little or no experience and/or knowledge of the craft of theatre.
- This may be your leap moment into the need to create a middle school program (or at least one class) that will serve as a feeder for your high school program and, therefore, with such prep, help maintain the high quality work that the district has always come to expect from you and your fellow theatre educators.
- Supplement your presentation with facts-see the 31 Facts used for TIOS-there are several that cite the broad value and transference of theatre skills to academic and career success (I've attached the list here)
- Finally, if you are not already doing so, take students to the board meeting!-they are your most advocates as they demonstrate-with their communication skills, poise, and passion-what theatre education can do.
I hope this helps just a bit. You might want to also contact EdTA Outreach Manager Dan Doerger (ddoerger@schooltheatre.org); he may have additional suggestions.
It's great that you've been presenting to your board during TIOS-they no doubt appreciate the good news about the future leaders of the community. Good luck and let me know how the meeting goes.
Best regards,
Jim Palmarini
EdTA Director of Educational Policy
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James Palmarini
Director of Educational Policy;
Educational Theatre Association
Cincinnati OH
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-08-2020 21:23
From: Nicole Green
Subject: TIOS School Board Presentation Advice
We are on the agenda at our local school board meeting tomorrow night for TIOS Month. We have presented TIOS for the past several years and usually just share some facts and talk about what our troupe has done. This year I would like to also use this as an opportunity to advocate for a middle school program. Our district currently has zero theatre classes or programs until they come to me at the high school. I am looking for advice on how to present this in a way that doesn't make me come off as unappreciative for the support I do have from the district at the high school level. We are the only fine art that doesn't start until HS. Due to the increase in numbers for our program I feel we really need an additional faculty member at the HS at least part time and I'd love for them to offer classes at our middle school to feed into our program too. Advice? Is this not the appropriate time to talk about it? Or is it right to bring it up during the TIOS presentation?
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Nicole Green
McAlester OK
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