Yadkin County Schools proposed arts cuts spur turmoil over theater teaching position

Denny Key, the principal at Forbush High School, believes you can’t have school without the arts.

But earlier this year, Yadkin County Schools central office administrators proposed cuts to arts programs during allotment meetings with Key — and there was notable ambiguity surrounding who would teach theater arts classes at Forbush and Starmount high schools.

Starmount High School has not employed a full-time theatre arts teacher since 2017, Kelsi Jester, a former chorus teacher at Starmount said. Starmount chorus teachers and outsourced directors have picked up this slack, teaching one theater class per school year and putting on one performance most spring semesters.

Meanwhile, Forbush High School has retained a full-time theater arts teacher, offering six theater classes per year and putting on a performance every semester.

Instead of entertaining the idea of cutting Forbush’s theater arts teacher, Key suggested a new position be created instead — one split theater arts teacher shared by both Starmount and Forbush, spending one semester at each school. It is unclear whether this position would have been full-time or part-time.

“There’s always the potential that a position can be cut, rift, split, what have you,” Key said.

Lillian North was the theater arts teacher at Forbush when the split position was proposed. North, a Forbush High School alumna and recent graduate of Lees-McRae College, had been teaching full-time at Forbush for a year and a half, and she was not happy about the new split position.

“I’m so glad that you are finally thinking of Starmount and thinking that they should also have a theater program, but the solution is not taking away [from Forbush],” North said.

While North never intended to stay at Forbush forever, her goal was to keep the program going until the school found someone to fill the position permanently. She said she hadn’t announced any intention of resignation when the split position was posted on the Yadkin County Schools hiring page.

“It made me feel like you wanted me out, you wanted me gone,” she said.

It wasn’t long until further discussions took place between teachers and administrators, and it was decided that the split position be scrapped and reverted back to the full-time theater arts teacher at Forbush.

“I thought it was a great idea for it to be split between Forbush and Starmount so they can both have it,” Key said. “But being the principal at Forbush, I’m not disappointed that we get to do two productions and not one.”

Jed Cockrell, the director of arts for Yadkin County Schools, did not provide clear details regarding the creation of the split position.

“Postings sometimes evolve during the posting and hiring process,” he said in an email.

Although administrators said the idea had been scrapped, the split position remained on the website until late June when the application closed — to the confusion of North and Key. Allegedly, the post remained online in an effort to garner interest. North said she would have had no problem with this, but she was upset she had not been kept in the loop.

Now, the reverted Forbush-only position has been posted on the website.

Wayne Duggins, interim superintendent for Yadkin County Schools from February to June, said it has been difficult to find applicants, specifically licensed applicants, to fill any of these theater teaching positions.

“We are trying to find retired licensed individuals to keep the program going with very little luck,” he said in an email.

Duggins said interest has been “steadily decreasing” over the years. Forbush managed to get by and maintain its full-time teacher, but Duggins said that even if there were licensed teachers available, it would be hard to justify employing a full-time theater arts teacher at Starmount.

But North, as well as Joy Rushton, Starmount High School’s chorus teacher, see things differently on the subject of student interest.

“The interest is definitely there,” North said.

When the split position was initially announced, North said her theater arts students were upset at the thought of losing a full-time teacher at Forbush. North said that for some of those students, theater was the only class that makes them feel welcome and wanted at school. Some of them even want to pursue theater in college.

So, North had her students write letters to the school board on why they wanted to keep a full-time theatre teacher at Forbush.

“For a lot of our students, this is their ballgame,” Key said.

Over at Starmount, Rushton doubles as chorus and theater teacher, teaching the school’s single theater arts class in the spring semester. This spring, she put on “Oklahoma” at Starmount, and she said more than 30 students took part in it.

“I just try and do the best job I can because God knows I love those kids. They are just fantastic,” Rushton said.

She said she’s working her “dream job,” and she plans on retiring there. But as much as she loves handling the musicals, she would welcome a full-time theater arts teacher at Starmount.

“Whatever is best for the kids. As long as we have a strong, thriving arts department, that can only be good for our students,” she said.

Contrary to those that would say interest in the arts is on the decline, Rushton said that Starmount’s theater program is in a good place and eager to grow. She is willing to put in the work to make her program as strong as Forbush’s.

As for Forbush, North is not returning in the fall. The new Forbush theater teacher, Savanna Hodge, was approved by the school board on July 15. North said if things had been handled better, she would have felt much more inclined to return.