Students and parents urge board to restore Pascack Hills theater program, cite lost leadership and participation

Students, parents and community members urged the Pascack Valley Regional High School District Board of Education on April 28 to reverse or modify the recent combination of Pascack Hills and Pascack Valley theater programs, saying the merger curtailed leadership opportunities, reduced roles and made it harder to sustain a middle-school feeder program.

Eti Eggers, a Hills student, told the board she analyzed cast and crew numbers and found significant differences between Hills's previous independent productions and the combined production. Citing licensing information, Eggers said Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (performed by Pascack Hills) included nine principal roles and a cast of 21, meaning about 42.9% of the cast had a featured role. She said this year's combined spring musical Legally Blonde (licensed by MTI) has seven principal roles and a cast of 44, leaving roughly 15% of the cast with a role. Eggers also said Hills's crew participation dropped from 36 students to five after the merger, an 85.7% decrease.

Riley Alexander, a senior at Pascack Hills who directs a Fieldstone Middle School spring musical each year, said the combined program's rehearsal schedule (she cited totals of roughly 280 rehearsal hours averaging 23.3 hours per week for the combined production versus about 176 hours averaging 14.6 hours per week for a Hills production) made it difficult or impossible to continue the after-school middle-school theater partnership. Alexander said the merged rehearsal schedule included a month marked "no conflict" when students were required at all rehearsals, leaving no time for the middle-school production.

Other students and parents echoed those concerns. Evie Eggers, a Hills freshman and former Fieldstone participant, said Hills students built a culture that helped middle-school students grow; parents Carrie Solomon and Devon Alexander described alumni outcomes and their children's experiences, saying Hills's smaller, leadership-rich environment created pathways into theater careers and college opportunities.

Parent Elizabeth Glugler said the Hills players have a decades-long history and presented a written proposal, including student and alumni letters and suggested next steps, to the administration; she said the proposal and candidate resumes for a permanent director were available to the board. Several parents asked the board to consider hiring separate directors so each school could have its own program and to move quickly so directors could be in place in time for the fall season.

Board members acknowledged the speakers, asked for copies of the proposal and noted administrators had met with students and parents on April 2. The board did not take a formal vote on the program during the meeting; comments were made during the public-comment portion of the agenda and during consent/routine business the board thanked participants.