"A crippling blow to the only countywide high school art magnet program..."

Letter to MCPS Board of Education from supporters of the Einstein High School Visual Art Center program:


Dear Montgomery County Board of Education,

We appreciate how difficult this budget cycle has been, and we appreciate your careful attention to our testimony, in person and through emails, on the subject of the 50% cut to the Visual Art Center teaching staff at Einstein High School.

Now that the total schools budget amount is clear, the VAC parents, students, alumni and supporters below are requesting that you vote on the specific cut to the Visual Art Center. A crippling blow to the only countywide high school art magnet program is a policy issue. This issue was sidelined during the extended negotiation over the total schools budget.

The cut is being described as “fair” by MCPS staff, but we disagree. It appears that the total schools budget is down 1% from last year. We disagree that this necessitates a 50% cut to a program with only two teachers. There is no other countywide high school art magnet program, while we have multiple magnet programs for sciences and humanities. We do not believe there is another countywide magnet program being run by one teacher. And we do not believe that any other countywide magnet has lost 50% of their teaching staff.

This program closes the achievement gap, yields 100% pass rate on program AP tests, brings important distinction to Einstein High School, and brings millions of dollars in scholarship money and multiple prestigious awards to MCPS each year. The community has very clearly spoken out against this cut: parents, students, alumni, and countywide arts leadership including Busy Graham, Mark Jaster and Jose Dominguez.

We await your response.

Thank you for your service in representing the community.

Friends of the VAC

1. Sue Katz Miller
2. Paul Miller
3. Aimee Miller, VAC ‘12
4. Bob Drogin
5. Frankie Drogin
6. Maggy Sterner
7. Casey Drogin, VAC ‘10
8. Ruth Ilan
9. Jim Kuhn
10. Aaron Kuhn, VAC ‘10
11. Busy Graham
12. Stew Hickman
13. Molly Hickman
14. Mark Jaster
15. Wyatt Jackson Jaster, VAC ‘09
16. Betsy Keeler
17. Harvey Meyerson
18. Maggie Munoz
19. Michelle Jimenez, VAC ‘12
20. Ruy Teixeira
21. Lauren Teixeira, VAC ‘10
22. Robin Allen
23. Ian Teixeira
24. Marianna Previti
25. John Previti
26. Rosetta Previti, VAC ‘14
27. Max Shevitz
28. Betty Shevitz
29. Michael Shevitz, VAC ‘03
30. Tonda Taylor Bean
31. Mary B. Stevens
32. Miriam C. Stevens, VAC ‘10
33. Katie Dell Kaufman
34. Nancy Martin
35. Benjamin M. Rosenthal
36. Bob Holmcrans
37. Karen Holmcrans
38. Mary Holmcrans, VAC ‘13
39. David Hammer
40. Lauren Hammer
41. Deirdre N. Parker
42. Rosanne Skirble
43. Daniel Klein
44. Martin Swift, VAC ‘08
45. Jeffrey A Toretsky
46. Elizabeth Toretsky
47. Brenda Smoak
48. Jenna Fanning, VAC ‘08
49. Jennifer Woronow
50. Phyllis Goldfarb
51. James Fellows
52. Aaron Fellows, VAC ‘12
53. Diane Wendt
54. Rachel Milner
55. Richard Nowitz
56. Varda Nowitz
57. Mark Inglis Sorden
58. Danielle Ceneta, VAC ‘09
59. Sunny Keene
60. JoAnne Pierson
61. Jamie Newell
62. Alejandro Newell
63. Viviana Azar
64. Ryan Hartley Smith, VAC ‘02
65. Judy K. Reul
66. Linda Nemec
67. Chris Bort
68. Theresa Bort, VAC ‘10
69. Samuel F. Baldwin
70. Emory Luce Baldwin
71. Keith Donohue
72. Melanie Donohue
73. Ann P. Riley
74. Janette Patterson
75. Sandra Moore
76. Chas G. Poor
77. Joan B. Duncan
78. Lauren A. Poor, VAC ‘10
79. Nicole L. Poor
80. Mr. Yung Son Pak
81. Mrs. Young Chin Pak
82. George Smith
83. Diane Smith
84. Sara Falconett
85. Jerry Falconett
86. Dr. Nancy Nolan Sorden
87. Anna Lukacs, VAC ‘08
88. Roy W. Deppa
89. Shelley Waters Deppa
90. Ellen Bloom
91. Nina Corin
92. Ka Lai Lou, VAC ‘07
93. Tor Opsahl
94. Anja Opsahl
95. Meredith Meer
96. Helen Rea
97. Robert Sugar
98. Rebecca Sugar
99. Steven Sugar, VAC ‘08
100. Lisa Goldring
101. Eileen F. Heiss
102. Joseph M. Heiss
103. Lynn Crawford Cook
104. Madeline Marie Cook, VAC ‘09
105. Shira Medoff
106. Carin Gottlieb
107. Ilene Lundy
108. Michelle Trout
109. Harry Trout
110. Jack Chen, VAC ‘11
111. Zhao Chun Chen
112. Wei Wang
113. Terri Lundy
114. Don Lundy
115. Charles Ritchie
116. Jenny Ritchie
117. Samantha Ritchie, VAC ‘12
118. Linda Sapin
119. Jim Swyers
120. Naomi Manzella
121. Nora Manzella
122. Tom Hamburger
123. Ellie Hamburger
124. Ben Hamburger, VAC ‘06
125. Carl Elefante
126. Adriana B. Elefante
127. Stephen B. Elefante, VAC ‘09
128. Caroline Miller
129. Peter Miller
130. Elizabeth Luu
131. Ali Vallespin
132. Lorraine Duffin
133. Ellen Hornstein
134. Denis Cioffi
135. Adelle Banks
136. Alison Rutsch, VAC ‘08
137. William Rutsch
138. Linda Rutsch
139. Mark Butler
140. Hayden Butler, VAC ‘12
141. Isla Norwood
142. Esther DeVries
143. Johanna Janssens
144. Jeff Bartholet
145. Wei (Vivian) Cheng
146. Sara Bluestone
147. Lewis Cuffy
148. Katie Chung
149. Cynthia Wang
150. Kelvin Childs
151. Richard Payne
152. Bettie Payne
153. Susan Wood
154. Tracey Goldman
155. Andrew Strongin
156. Emma Strongin, VAC ‘14
157. Marika Partridge
158. Larry Ravitz
159. Heidi Landecker
160. Abraham Murrell, VAC ‘09


Please see link to letter above for additional names.