The scene backstage at Cheyenne Mountain Junior High School’s commons stage was electric.

Seventh and eighth graders were frantically finalizing their makeup, changing into costumes, readying the lights and sound and fitting in a few more vocal warm-ups and pre-show hugs ahead of the call to places.

Rehearsed over the entire school year, last Thursday night’s performance of the musical theater class’s annual revue was especially momentous, as it marked one of the final performances of the class and its beloved teacher.

“Being your teacher and director has been the honor of a lifetime,” wrote Cody Saunders to his students in the revue’s program. “I count myself lucky to be able to create and share the love of musical theater with you all.”

In response to what district leadership has pointed to as declining student interest and enrollment, the junior high is reducing its performing arts offerings next year.

The school’s current classes – two semesters of musical theater, advanced choir, show choir, concert choir and one semester of ukulele and theater – are sunsetting this year. The only classes to be offered next year are one semester of choir and theater production.

This development hasn’t been without a little drama.

Since learning about the class changes during a winter choir concert from a staff member, families currently involved in these courses have raised their voices in opposition, saying that it deprives students of opportunities to find their area of interest and engagement.

“I feel like this is where I belong. This is my place, this is where I should be,” said seventh grader Annie Lynch. “And it’s almost like they’re swiping away my confidence, my home, my community. It’s like they’re taking everything away from me.”

The fact that Saunders wouldn’t be returning because of these adjustments also caused an uproar, with everyone from students to parents to administrators acknowledging how much he means to the school and questioning exactly why he’s being let go.

Cheyenne Mountain District 12 Assistant Superintendent Stacy Aldridge explained that the school has developed newer programs in response to students’ and families’ interests and desires for electives.

In recent years, engineering pathways with “maxed out classes,” a robotics team and a phlebotomy class have developed and become popular at Cheyenne Mountain High School.

She added that the junior high school recently formed its own robotics team as an extension of this interest, while the performing arts classes haven’t generated as much attention recently.  

“When you have a class with 5-7 kids next door to a science class with 28, we have to be careful about equity and being good stewards of our allocated staff, (which) comes with very difficult decisions,” Aldridge said.

Other adjustments heading into next year, she said, include teacher changes to the junior high’s science, robotics, social studies and world language classes, due to a teacher retirement, which have not generated the same fervor as the performing arts changes.   

“I think people gravitate towards hanging on (to those classes) because they loved him as a teacher,” Aldridge said. “Which is understandable.”

The changes to the junior high’s performing arts are the only instance where a teacher position isn’t returning.

Like the high school’s world language teachers splitting their time at the junior high next year to fill their gaps, a similar idea was originally entertained with the high school’s performing arts teachers. This suggestion was met with consternation, with families and students believing that overseeing both classes and theater programs would be inappropriate.

“This is a disservice to them as educators as well as the students,” Cheyenne Mountain D-12 parent Julie Montoya told The Gazette.

“My adult son was a student of Ms. Dawn Wisdom for four years at the high school. She is an incredible teacher and has been such an asset to the high school arts program. But she is just that, an asset to the high school, not the junior high.”

Regarding a lack of student interest in the junior high performing arts, Montoya said that this may be due to a lack of proper promotion when compared to other classes and activities.

During an annual tour of the school for incoming students, she recalled seeing information booths and representatives for its sports and electives like band and foreign language, while no information was presented on its musical theater class. She added that her daughter didn’t know the program existed until they began registering for classes.

Éowyn Gatz, a fourth grader attending Cheyenne Mountain Elementary School whose sister is enrolled in the junior high classes, said her school has limited exposure to performances, with a single performance during the school year for second, fourth and sixth grade classes.

“If the problem is not enough kids enrolling in the classes, then make more opportunities in elementary school,” she said.

A high school music director at a neighboring school district, who agreed to speak with The Gazette on the condition of anonymity, said that they and most other veteran arts educators have experienced similar programming adjustments over the years, given the “cyclical” nature of school district operations.

They specifically pointed to needed budget cuts, administrative changes and school board turnovers as reasons why prioritizing arts programs can have a “boom or bust” cycle.  She added that, when these cuts do occur, they’re often in the younger grades because they’re “less visible.”

 “It’s very obvious when a high school music program is cut or limited because you sense the absence,” they said. “But in the middle grades, sometimes, they can get away with making cuts there because students are just learning their craft and their foundation … and they wouldn’t be performing as much.”

“Theater is their sport”

This spring semester, an interschool movement began to “Save Saunders,” with parents and students reaching out to administrators and board of education members, urging them to reconsider.

Numerous junior high students said the school’s performing arts classes and students are their own community at the school, helping them acclimate to the new school and improve mental health.

“Jokingly, we call Mr. Saunders ‘Dad’ because he’s so much of a parental figure and he’s so encouraging to us,” said seventh grader Madeleine Rosielle.

Over the years, studies have shown positive overall educational outcomes for students involved in performing arts. A 2020 study by the Athens Journal of Education found that dancing enhances learning spatial awareness and other math concepts for school-aged children, while a 2014 neuroscience study found that practicing music during adolescence can support working memory.

Last year, Public School Review, which releases reports on public schools through public data analyses, reported that arts programs can result in improved student performance, behavior and attendance, often being the motivating factor to come to school.  

Anecdotally, Éowyn’s father, Jeff Gatz, said that he’s seen students develop their public speaking and confidence through the commonality found in arts programs.

“For those kids, theater is their sport,” he said. “We get, for other kids, it’s volleyball or football and that’s cool. This is where they find their people, this is their social group.”

The neighboring music director, who has publicly advocated for the arts in the Pikes Peak region over the past eight years, said that D-12 has historically had one of the more robust programs – specifically its band, theater and choir – in the state, when compared to other districts.

According to Cheyenne Mountain High School’s website, they maintain an active thespian troupe, a band program that regularly places students in all-state and honor bands, a nationally recognized symphonic band, one of the longest-running improvisation groups in Colorado Springs and former drama students who have moved on to Los Angeles, New York and Chicago to work as actors and technicians.

The school’s competitive a cappella group, Crimson & Slate, has been at the school for over 20 years and has competed in national competitions, opened for touring acts and released a yearly album.  

The director added that, when early grades’ performing arts are cut, the secondary programs suffer.

“It creates a very toxic ‘trickle-up’ effect where, if we’re not seeing well-supported arts education in the lower grades, then we see high schoolers that are underprepared or totally unprepared to do high school-level performing arts.”

Aldridge said that she’s heard parents express these concerns and assured them that they would not phase out the arts entirely.

“The good news is that it’s still continuing, it just may not feel the same,” she said.

Since the announcement back in December, Aldridge said that there’s been an “increase in student interest in some of the classes” at the junior high school.

“And then, when registration happened, the student interest reflected that we needed to at least bring back a .5,” she said.

The .5, or part-time teaching position, will be for a performing arts teacher next year who will oversee the school’s choir and theater productions. This will ensure that current high school teachers wouldn’t have to teach classes at both schools.

Along with the possibility of Saunders applying for this new position, Aldridge said that these departing classes could return, should the student interest warrant it.

“It ebbs and flows every year,” she said.