Civil Disobedience: APA Students Protest Teacher Job Cuts to BOE

A group of Fort Lee High School Academy of Performing Arts (APA) students turned up at the Fort Lee Board of Education Monday wearing red duct tape over their mouths to protest recently announced teacher layoffs in the district.

The more than 20 students attended the meeting to defend the APA program in particular, and to appeal to the board to reconsider the elimination of one their teachers’ jobs—specifically that of Claudia Cutler, who teaches in the APA's dance program, and whose job is among those being eliminated. The red tape represented their not having a voice when it comes to decisions they say directly affects them.

Several of the adults in attendance at the meeting were impressed by the maturity with which the students conducted themselves.

“When they had their opportunity to speak they were students that this school district could be proud of,” one parent told Patch. “They were respectful, prepared and well-spoken about the issue of the APA program being changed so much.”

Blogger David Sarnoff, who was in attendance Monday, wrote in a post on Patch, "After waiting patiently for their turn, they stood up en mass and addressed the board in a respectful but firm manner and stated their positions clearly and intelligently."

It was the second meeting this month the students have attended en masse and addressed the board directly. On May 2, a similarly large group of APA students and some parents expressed concerns that their voices weren’t being heard and that the impact of Cutler’s ousting on the APA program would be significant.

"Essentially, we are not cutting the APA program," Fort Lee Superintendent of Schools Raymond Bandlow told the students at the time. "The teacher who will be teaching it is appropriately certified ... The program itself is not in jeopardy. It is being changed. And it's being changed because it's necessary to consolidate to make sure enrollment is sufficient to serve the needs of all our kids."

Blogger Tom Meyers, who was also in attendance at Monday's meeting, wrote in his blog post, "As a member of the Fort Lee Coalition for the Arts, I was proud to join with fellow Coalition for the Arts members to lend my voice to the concerns of these bright, educated and articulate students ... Mr. Bandlow answered in a perfunctory manner and kept going back to the 2 percent cap and the cuts in funds.  What we as a Borough need is for educators and administrators to think out of the box in these difficult times and to reach out to organizations within the community for help prior to cuts to a program that eventually will lead to its demise."

The current total enrollment in the APA dance program for 2011-2012 is 30 students, according to Assistant Superintendent Steven Engravalle—11 students in Grade 9, five students in Grade 10, 10 students in Grade 11 and four students in Grade 12.

Engravalle also provided current enrollment numbers in the four individual dance sections (classes) of APA:

• Dance I - 12 students
• Dance II - seven students
• Dance III - seven students
• Dance IV - four students

“As you can see, the numbers are quite low,” he said in an email. “Having a teacher instruct four, or even 12, students is not fiscally responsible.”

The board recently passed resolutions eliminating the positions of six high school faculty members, including Cutler’s, one part-time Art teacher at School No. 4 and one ESL teacher at School No. 2.

Sixty classroom aide positions across all Fort Lee schools were also eliminated in what Fort Lee Superintendent of Schools Raymond Bandlow has characterized as a “re-structuring.”