Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Middle School Schedule topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parents and students urge Wethersfield board to pause middle-school schedule changes that would reduce arts
Summary
Dozens of parents, students and teachers urged the Wethersfield Board of Education to pause proposed schedule changes at the middle school that would cut unified arts and move to extended core blocks, arguing the plan would damage music and arts pipelines and contradict the district strategic plan.
Dozens of parents, students and teachers pressed the Wethersfield Board of Education on May 26 to halt proposed scheduling changes at the middle school that would cut unified arts and replace them with longer 120-minute core instructional blocks.
The public-comment portion of the meeting stretched for more than an hour as residents laid out why they believe the change would reduce access to music, art and technical education at a critical age. "Please pause this decision," Suzanne Midica told the board, saying the music program "helped shape my children into being better human beings" and warning that a quarterly-only music option would fragment instruction and leadership development for student musicians.
Community members tied their concerns to the district’s own strategic plan. "Restricting unified arts would hurt the very metrics we measure — participation in performance ensembles and access to CSD arts programs," Liz Hernandez said, arguing the change undermines goals around empathy, achievement and equity.
Parents and students described concrete effects they expect if the proposal goes forward. Katie Shinberg, a psychiatric nurse practitioner and parent, said her middle-school child "thrives in music" and would be forced to choose between classes that support his confidence and core academics. Student speakers recounted how year-long music and arts participation built leadership and motivation: "If I were not to participate in music for a full year, I wouldn't be where I am today," said Matthew Corwin, a high-school drum-major and long-time program participant.
Several commenters questioned the evidence base for the schedule redesign and asked whether a formal feasibility study or impact assessment had been performed. "Have you done a data analysis or feasibility study that shows this approach will be effective?" Dan Chapensky asked, saying parents have not been given clear answers about trade-offs and supports for students who may struggle in longer blocks.
Board members responded that the superintendent and school leaders had identified limited time for reading and math at the middle school and were charged with proposing changes to address those gaps. One board member said the effort is motivated by concerns about reading comprehension and math readiness, not a desire to defund the arts. Still, she added, "I do believe we should reconsider going forward if that's possible at this point," acknowledging the depth of community concern.
No vote was taken on the middle-school schedule at the May 26 meeting. The board approved several separate, procedural items that evening — including the operating budget as adopted by the town council, a service-delivery program review RFP, and a textbook adoption — and signaled that scheduling remains an operational item for district leadership.
Next steps: community members asked the board to publish any impact analyses and to consider phased alternatives that preserve year-long arts access while addressing academic needs. Board members said they will continue discussions in subcommittee and with the superintendent; no formal implementation date for schedule changes was announced at the meeting.
