A few years ago, I was on the grant-writing committee at My Kid’s school. We found many grants for lovely programs that we weren’t eligible for due to lack of space. For example, one enticing program gives instruments to public schools for music programs. It was just what we were looking for. But, we weren’t eligible because one of the requirements was a dedicated music room with a lock on the door in which to keep the instruments. Too bad. So sad.
That is exactly the sort of beneficial arts program the NYCDOE is suffocating with it’s policy of counting students and counting classrooms and deciding that there is plenty of room to implant a second or third unrelated school into a building because on paper there are plenty of “underutilized” classrooms where they can squeeze in another charter school.
My Kid’s school used to have a dedicated music room but it had to be turned into a regular classroom, along with the science room and an art room, as a result of increased enrollment. The homeless music teacher now wanders from classroom to classroom pushing a cart.
There is also something to be said for the simple act of getting up and walking into a different room to perk up a school day.