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Council Member Dinowitz challenges DOE on systemic issues in arts education
1:39:45
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118 sec
Council Member Dinowitz expresses concern about the systemic challenges in implementing arts education, despite individual success stories. He questions the DOE's commitment to changing evaluation criteria and mindsets across the entire system.
- Dinowitz shares a personal anecdote highlighting the disconnect between arts-focused schools and administrative priorities.
- He emphasizes the need for system-wide changes in how arts education is valued and evaluated.
- The council member questions how the DOE is addressing the competing pressures faced by principals in allocating resources between arts and other academic subjects.
Eric Dinowitz
1:39:45
You know, I appreciate that.
1:39:47
And that's sort of the exact type of leadership we want in our schools.
1:39:52
But unfortunately, it's not the leadership we're seeing as system wide.
1:39:57
You taught the arts, I taught in an art school.
1:40:00
And I have the experience of having a superintendent come to my school, the theater school, where three days in a row the theater teacher said to her, would you like to see the theater class in this theater school?
1:40:11
And the superintendent was like, nah, freshman regents algebra, freshman regents ELA.
1:40:18
That's it.
1:40:19
And so I'm sure for every story you give, there are as many stories like mine where the principals maybe want to do the right thing, maybe believe to their core that incorporating the arts is the right thing, is academically the smart thing, it's the right thing by our children because I think you're right, one of the biggest struggles our children have is just simply saying, I need help, here's what I need, whether it's academic, social, emotional.
1:40:44
And so the question isn't just, you know, are you encouraging it?
1:40:49
Are you providing resources?
1:40:51
But how are evaluation criteria being changed?
1:40:54
How is the mindset being changed not just through your division but through the entire teaching division at the DOE.
1:41:02
And we can appreciate those stories and still recognize that it doesn't feel like these inequities are being met, especially when you also see academic outcomes in The Bronx are poorer than other boroughs.
1:41:15
And then the principals are faced with a decision, do I take heat from my superintendent or do I fill this other gap with the arts?
1:41:22
We know that the arts and the academic subjects are intertwined, that they support one another.
1:41:29
But I do not believe that the DOE outside of you and the people on this table see it that way.
1:41:37
What strides are being made with the DOE as a whole to recognize what you and I both know to be true?