A year ago, I found myself sitting in my chair at home staring at a wall for what I think was an hour, maybe longer. I had lost track of time, trying to figure out a solution to a devastating problem that keeps happening. Since then, my staring contest with the wall has been a consistent occurring event. As I staired at the wall, my frustration and anger would flare up as I contemplate this perplexing problem. You see, art teachers are getting cut from their jobs one by one throughout West Virginia. It is like we are in hunting season and art educators are the game.

WVAEA is working overtime talking with WV legislators, increasing visibility for student art through YAM, and giving art educators data to use to argue their value to their school administrators. However, the cuts keep happening. Another school year, another art teacher quietly disappears. I feel guilty that I can’t stop it. I know others in the WVAEA leadership feel similar. But it seems the school leadership as well as state legislators have the art IQ of a three-year-old children. Each district must be judged independently but it sure seems like they are talking with each other, and their actions say art education is a waste of money, and time. And oh, by the way the principals’ new plan is to have the regular classroom teacher deliver art instruction at the elementary. This is despite the fact that they have never touched ceramic clay, and could not pass the PRAXIS II Art content test exam if their life depended on it.