High school to drop another theater teacher at end of the
term
On a Wednesday afternoon in late March the San Benito High
School drama department was preparing their latest production,
”
Starmites,
”
a student produced ensemble that featured bits of animation and
carbon-dioxide cannons.
High school to drop another theater teacher at end of the term
On a Wednesday afternoon in late March the San Benito High School drama department was preparing their latest production, “Starmites,” a student produced ensemble that featured bits of animation and carbon-dioxide cannons.
The students huddled around nervously adjusting set arrangements at the last minute and practicing the music configurations that needed to be perfect before the show opened hours later.
Next year the students will be facing their productions with a new leader. The drama teacher, Christina Plank, who has been at the school for two years, has not been asked to return next year. A change in hands for the drama department is not unusual. Plank is the seventh teacher in 11 years that has overseen the drama department, according to a search of San Benito High School yearbooks from the past 10 years.
The frequent turnover has many drama students upset.
“I’m very worried for the department,” said Greg Smith, a senior. “In the four years I’ve taken drama at San Benito High School, I’ve had three different teachers. There is an inconsistency and it’s very frustrating. Each new teacher has a different style you have to learn. There is no consistency.”
The students in the drama department aren’t typical, according to their teacher. They don’t have hundreds of outlets for their creativity and many don’t feel like they have a place for themselves outside the drama department, Plank said.
“These kids are charismatic and they’re communicative and they’re intelligent,” Plank said. “For a lot of these kids, this is their family. This is where their gifts and talents are recognized. These kids are together 24-7.”
The students in the drama program attend classes together, put on productions together and build sets together. It extends outside the walls of San Benito High School as well.
Plank has been instrumental in organizing more extracurricular activities for the drama students including monthly outings to the San Jose Comedy Sportz workshops – a type of improvisational group.
Teacher turnover
The students have formed bonds with their peers and their instructor.
Teacher turnover has an affect on students, according to Jim Caffiero, a San Benito High School counselor.
“I think any kind of school activity is important to the mental health of students,” Caffiero said. “I have had kids come in because a teacher is leaving and they’ve had a bond with that person. But the fact is that teachers leave. Some choose to leave and others need to be replaced. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is.”
The drama program at San Benito High School currently has 112 students enrolled. The students are divided among introductory, intermediate and advanced classes. In addition there are another 40 or so students who are just involved with the drama club after school, according to Plank.
In contrast to Hollister, Gilroy High School has only 32 students enrolled in its drama program and the class doesn’t even have its own budget. Like San Benito, the students may be facing a new teacher next fall. Drama teacher Ethan Stocks has been at the school for three years, but will leave this summer to pursue a master’s degree, according to Jim Maxwell, the principal of Gilroy High School.
“We’ll have to replace Mr. Stocks this fall, but it is hard to find drama teachers,” Maxwell said. “If we can’t find somebody, we’ll have to post notices in the community for people to help with student productions.”
For those 112 Hollister students, the program had a budget of roughly $2,500 to spend this year.
Some plays can cost upwards of $16,000.
When they do have shows, ticket sales are put back into the project. The most recent show, “Starmites,” is likely to break even, Plank said. The drama club also earns money through the productions they put on during the year.
Awards and field trips
When Plank first arrived at San Benito High School in 2005, she found the program in disarray. The students weren’t happy with their previous teacher, she said. Part of the problem, Plank said, was that the students were lacking leadership opportunities.
She remedied this by starting a local chapter of the International Thespian Society where students could hone their leadership training within the field of drama.
Additionally, she has made efforts to get the students to take pride in the work they do. The students weren’t previously involved with comedy sports and they didn’t attend any drama festivals.
“One of the first things I noticed when I arrived was that there wasn’t any memorabilia up around the classroom. No playbills or any trophies,” Plank said. “It took a tremendous amount of energy to get the students to take pride in their abilities. Now the school is starting to take awards at larger competitions and get acknowledged.”
This year the students in Plank’s advanced drama class participated in the Lenaea Festival, a statewide three-day festival held near Sacramento composed of high school one-act plays, monologues, scenes, and musical theater solos.
One of Plank’s students, Matt Thorpe, received a most-improved during festival award.
She feels like there isn’t any interest in developing the drama program from the standpoint of the administration, Plank said.
“There are a lot of things that aren’t happening here,” Plank said. “But there are also a lot of opportunities that the students have worked hard to implement. When there is a lot of turnover, activities often get lost in the process.”
Since San Benito High School has a policy not to give reasons for termination of probationary teachers, Plank does not know why she was fired. Several calls placed to administrators at San Benito High School were not returned by press time.
San Benito High School Trustee Evelyn Muro is a former administrator at San Benito High School and understands that departmental stability is important, but with every department the trustees and administrators want the best and most capable people working with the students, she said.
“There are things in people’s lives that affect their ability to stay with a position,” Muro said. “Some leave by their own accord. Others aren’t asked back, but that doesn’t mean you don’t try to hire the best teachers you can. The school has large turnover rates as a whole.”
San Benito High School Trustee Steve Delay agreed with Muro.
“Anytime there is turnover within a department it is harder to get the program up and running,” Delay said. “But it comes and it goes with departments. For a while, with the Ag department it seemed like we had to hire new teachers every year. And I remember one year in the auto shop we had three teachers in one year.”
