Cornwall Students Speak Up About Budget Cuts

CORNWALL, NY --Cornwall School District’s budget is almost never passed the first time.

Consequently, cuts must be made to extracurricular activities such as clubs, programs, and sports.

But which activities make the cut and which do not?

“Basically, our budget is never passed the first time,” said Alex McCarroll, 20, graduate of Cornwall Central High School and organizational communication major at SUNY New Paltz. “And we are always threatened to go into a contingency budget. The first things that are cut are the art programs and never sports.”

Tracey Swithers, 17, senior at Cornwall Central High School agrees. “Well, the drama club isn’t supported at all by the school,” said Swithers. “But the others are.”

Swithers claims that sports teams usually have the upper hand when it comes to budget cuts. ”With the budget votes, what usually gets cut is not the sports,” said Swithers.

Anna Konvit, 17, senior at Cornwall Central High School, also says this is true. When asked why the school seems to support sports more than art, Konvit said, “More people get caught up in the hype, and I think culturally it is more acknowledged and appreciated.”

Konvit feels it is unfair that the school will take time away from classes for a sporting event, such as a pep-rally, while the school would never take that time out for an event involving art.

“Even though [art] is a lot more rewarding for communities and individuals,” said Konvit, “it may seem more intimidating.”

According to Konvit, Cornwall School District may fund sports more than it funds arts because it wants to have an “all-American” image. “Typical suburban school, sports teams, perfect families, yay!” said Konvit.

However, some students disagree with the notion that the arts are better supported by the district.

Brigid Doulin, 15, sophomore at Cornwall Central High School says she has seen firsthand that the budget does not only affect clubs; cuts have also been made on sports teams. “I know people that, you know, it’s been a lot harder to come up with the money. I’m on the tennis team and I know the coaches have been able to help out with kids who couldn’t come up with the money [for uniforms],” said Doulin.

Brian Clark, 20, junior at Boston University and graduate of Cornwall High School said he didn’t participate in the arts in high school, but played on the soccer team.

Clark says his team definitely felt the budget cuts just as much as any art organizations in Cornwall. “[Our uniforms] were mismatched until our senior year,” said Clark.

Elliott Lewis, 17, senior at Cornwall Central High School concurs. “Well, for tennis we buy our own uniforms and equipment,” said Lewis.

A middle ground seems to be that, while Cornwall School District doesn’t physically give money to clubs and organizations involving art, it supports them in other ways.

“I don’t know about the funding, but I do know [the school is] very involved in the arts,” said Geraldine Satterly, 78, clerk at Cornwall Public Library.

According to McCarroll, everybody involved in the drama club volunteers their time; they do not get paid. “Tony, a chorus teacher, builds sets and is the music director for the plays. And Vick directs the band and runs the pit band for the plays,” said McCarroll.

McCarroll sees this as a true demonstration of the school’s dedication to the arts: Teachers donate their time without any monetary reward.

When asked which activities the school supports the most, Doulin said, “I think that the school supports the people who take their own time. The school supports that and they honor that.”

Swithers agrees that, despite the lack of funding allotted by the school’s budget, it has remained supportive of the activities to which she belongs. “Any performing art, they try to incorporate as many people as possible,” she said.

On the other hand, some feel Cornwall Central High School has shown little or no interest in certain organizations, and, in some cases, fund-raising is done strictly outside of school.

Konvit claims she and her peers received absolutely no support in developing a new environmental club. “When we got [the environmental club] started, the community reached out and donated supplies and labor, not the school,” said Konvit.

Doulin seconded this opinion. “They recently cut fund-raising on a lot of things, but we’ve been able to fund-raise for ourselves.”

Konvit says that the environmental club was able to make an organic garden thanks to businesses like The 2 Alices, a local fair-trade coffee shop, which was selling buttons for the environmental club to help raise money.

“The school hasn’t funded [us] at all,” said Konvit. “But there’s been a lot of publicity and whatnot so we have to apply for grants and have fund-raisers and whatnot.”

The students and teachers at Cornwall Central High School have, perhaps amazingly, been able to keep their organizations up and running, in spite of low funding.

“I mean, I do think that since the budget has been cut, it’s been more money to participate in clubs,” said Doulin. “But that doesn’t mean you stop.”

And those involved in these clubs and organizations have not stopped.

When asked how she personally benefits from being involved in the arts at Cornwall Central High School, Swithers’ face lit up. “It’s given me more confidence,” said Swithers, “and it’s another thing for me to do. I don’t do many sports, so performing arts is another option,” she said.

Konvit says she has no negative feelings toward sports. However, she feels that schools’ budgets need to better balance arts and sports.

“I love soccer, but I also love other things,” said Konvit. “And I think basically all school systems need to drastically change their curriculums to a more holistic approach so people can experience the playoff football game of the art world.”