When you sign up to take an art class, you expect to do art. The classroom would be overflowing with supplies and crazy fun projects. However, this year things have been different for many students and teachers. Throughout the school year you hear concerns from students who don’t have classroom supplies to complete upcoming projects.
This school year, many students–myself included, signed up for art classes with the intent to explore new topics and participate in creative projects. However, that excitement quickly began to spiral when students weren’t given the necessary materials to complete projects. Why hire new teachers and offer new courses if you aren’t willing to provide the necessary resources? The lack of supplies compromises with the students delivery on assignments and the teachers ability to deliver quality instruction. Students are being left in the dark and so are teachers.
To make matters worse two art teachers have been placed in rooms that are inconvenient for their class. Mrs. Fatemi–a new teacher this year who teaches painting, film, and sculpture, and Mr. Vargas were placed in classrooms with no sink in the beginning of the semester. There’s no way for them to clean paint brushes, which is a huge part of their curriculum for their painting classes. Teachers are now being forced to be resourceful with what they have when it should be provided by the school. These teachers have switched classrooms 3 times this entire school year.
“This has been the hardest year because we’ve had to move classrooms three times, and supplies have been limited.” Fatemi expressed.
Having to move classrooms, especially an art class, is difficult since it isn’t just textbooks being moved. There are student projects that have to be moved, supplies, tables, and more. She has never experienced a sudden change such as this during the school year.
Things can get lost throughout the moves which makes it hard to dig through everything to find materials. They’ve been seeking help from other teachers to borrow materials their students need. Thankfully, Mrs. Fatemi and Mr. Vargas were moved to classes with a sink outside which improved classroom conditions but still, there’s limited supplies.
Regardless of the incredibly tough situation Mrs. Fatemi expressed her gratitude towards staff and janitors who’ve helped her move into her new class.
“I’m grateful to the janitorial staff that helped move stuff into the new classroom.” she says.
Thankfully Mrs. Fatemi has used her resources as much as she could. She used leftover cardboard that was used during the move so students can make pinatas. She admits that the clean up process has been difficult since students worked on a paper mache and cleaning up paint brushes is even harder. There wasn’t a sink at the beginning of the spring semester.
Regardless of the difficulties, Mrs. Fatemi has been able to push through and provide her classes with resourceful projects they could work on. Thanks to her thrifting and the supplies that she’s also gathered on her own, she has been able to provide as much as she can. However, teachers shouldn’t have to worry about buying supplies. Teachers need to be given the right materials for their classes.
Written by: Emily Negrete, Staff Writer