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The show is set to go on for Livermore High School’s performing arts students after the district received pushback from them on a schedule change that they said would have required them to make difficult choices between classes or receive no course credit for their preparations for the school’s annual musical.
LHS junior Greta Fick-Furlotte started a Change.org petition last Friday calling on district officials to allow for a school period in addition to the regular eight-period day — now in effect following the district’s shift to a semester system starting this school year — in order to accommodate rehearsals for the school’s next musical production, which students have traditionally received credit for.
“We all love that Livermore High School has a strong reputation for its musical and theatre programs,” students and parents said in a joint letter posted to the petition. “However, the challenge of timing theatre productions to fit within the rigid school day is limiting our ability to foster creativity and develop high-quality performances. Meeting for only an hour and a half every other day does not create a successful environment to cultivate the beautiful musicals and plays we aspire to produce.”
Fick-Furlotte and a number of other students told Livermore Vine on Monday that Fick-Furlotte had launched the petition following what was widely regarded as a disappointing Friday afternoon for students interested in the performing arts – including those at Granada High School, who are encouraged to participate in theater productions at LHS – and the hopeful cast and crew of the school’s next musical.
“We had audition prep for the fall musical ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’, which had already been postponed a week for what I assume was the director and choir teacher trying to figure out a way to allow us to put on the show,” students said in a statement penned by Ezra Raskin.
When students arrived at the theater, they said it was announced that auditions were canceled for the foreseeable future and that the school’s ability to put on another show was thrown into question.
“We were so excited to audition for the show until we heard the devastating news,” LHS drama club president Ethan Sadkowski told Livermore Vine on Monday. “Ever since then, our club has worked effortlessly towards getting our voices heard and understood. Unfortunately there is still not a solid solution that will help bring our 39-year program fully back successfully. We had to put our normal drama club business and planning on hold for our full efforts into getting this to work.”
At the advice of their teachers, Raskin said students decided against spreading the word on social media immediately, but that “unfortunately the word got spread out on Instagram in a not so polite and civil way.”Â
“People were attacking the school board rather than trying to reason with them,” Raskin wrote.
Widespread outcry and speculation ensued over the weekend, as well as voices of support and appreciation for the value of the annual musical and other productions at LHS.
“You have to understand that, for the past few years, Advanced Theater Workshop was a class that took place after school,” school board candidate Amanda Pepper told Livermore Vine. “It wasn’t something students signed up for when registering for classes; instead, they were added to the class and given credit if and when they participated in one of the typically three productions LHS put on each school year.”
On Monday, Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District officials said they had heard student concerns loud and clear, and that they were making scheduling adjustments necessary to accommodate rehearsals. They had announced on Sunday that discussions on addressing the issue would be a top priority for the week.
“We were able to identify and resolve some scheduling conflicts that were impacting students who wanted to take both drama and choir,” LVJUSD Superintendent Torie Gibson said in a message to students and families Monday. “Adjustments have been made to eliminate an overlap in the schedule, and counselors and administrators are working with students to make changes as needed.”
“Students who choose not to take drama as a class will still have the ability to participate in theater productions as an extracurricular activity,” she continued. “This is not unlike our student athletes who can participate on a sports team even if they choose not to take an athletic conditioning class during their school day.”
Without the option of an additional school period, however, that work with students continued into Tuesday afternoon following a drama club meeting Monday evening in which students had begun drafting a letter to the school board for its next meeting on Sept. 3
The tide had changed as of Tuesday evening, however, with Gibson issuing an additional update and students celebrating the move.
“In order to best accommodate students interested in participating in dramatic productions, we have moved the 7th period courses of Theatre Productions, Stagecraft, and Advanced Theater Workshop to 9th period, after the regular school day,” Gibson said. “While holding classes outside of our normal eight-period block schedule is not a precedent for the future, this was the best solution for both our students and staff in this case.”
Gibson said that the issue identified by students last week had been a case of growing pains for the district in the first few weeks of its shift to the semester system, and that performing arts programs had never been on the chopping block at the administrative level.
“I want to reiterate that at no time did we contemplate canceling our visual and performing arts programs,” Gibson said. “They are a source of pride and identity for our district. We look forward to the continued success of our drama and music programs and highly anticipate not one, but two musical productions this school year.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story had a misspelling of LHS Drama Club President Ethan Sadkowski’s last name. Embarcadero Media regrets the error.
