Calls for change at La Guardia High School

BY MADELEINE THOMPSON

“What if Jennifer Aniston, Adrian Grenier, or Robert DeNiro didn’t have the chance to study drama at a high school for the arts? ... Unfortunately, the next generation of talented artists may not have the same opportunity to develop their skills.”

So begins an online petition put together a week ago by students, teachers, parents and alumni of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music & Arts and Performing Arts demanding that the school’s admission process refocus on talent rather than test scores.

LaGuardia High School, on Amsterdam Avenue near West 65th Street, is renowned as a generator of successful artists of all kinds, and served as the basis for the 1980 film “Fame” and its 2009 remake. The petition, online at Change.org, was started by some who fear the school has veered away from its roots by giving priority to applicants’ grades and test scores instead of their artistic talent. Initially the petition’s goal was to gather 7,000 signatures, but it quickly surpassed that number and reset its goal at 10,000 names. As of Monday, there were almost 9,000.

“Performing Arts was always a vocational high school,” said Sue Wartur, a former English teacher and public relations director at LaGuardia from 1971 to 1996. “For somebody to be a principal of this school requires something very special and something very expansive. ... Who’s getting the jobs today? I think the artists and dancers are much more likely to be employed.”

Much of the blame for the school’s supposed shift in direction has been placed on the shoulders of its current principal, Lisa Mars, who did not respond to request for comment. “Since the 2013 arrival of principal Dr. Lisa Mars, LaGuardia’s admission process has been radically altered in favor of academic scores and attendance records,” the petition reads. “With these new admission criteria, talent counts for only 14 percent of the admission decision.”

It goes on to list statistics from a Department of Education survey showing that teacher trust in and communication with Mars is worryingly low.

According to a DOE spokesperson, “academic information is only considered for those students who successfully audition.”

“LaGuardia’s policies are in accordance with all laws and regulations,” the spokesperson said. “The school continues to thrive academically and artistically.”

A 2015 LaGuardia alum, who asked to remain anonymous, said she stopped wanting to recommend the school to prospective students.

“What [Mars] is doing maybe would be great in another school,” the alum said. “She wants to raise the academic standard — awesome. But this is not the place to do it.” The former student cited several nixed policies, like having dance classes instead of gym and being able to rehearse in the hallways, as evidence of Mars’ differing ideology.

The alum added that she has personally known several talented applicants who were not accepted for grade-related reasons or, in one case, because of a prolonged medical leave from middle school.

She also said teachers and students who spoke out against Mars have faced retribution from the principal, which is why she did not want her name used. “Even though I’m out of that school, I’m not sure what she’s capable of,” she said. “I’m sure that she’s not trying to ruin the school, I just think it’s really sad that such a prestigious school ... for kids who find solace in their art that they’re not going to be able to hone their craft because of someone who just doesn’t belong.”

However, concern for the arts focus at LaGuardia High School is not new. An April 2014 article in The New York Times addressed the issue, brought up at the time by then-head of the dance department Michelle Mathesius. According to a letter she wrote to current schools chancellor Carmen Fariña, Mars rejected 43 of the 92 students recommended for acceptance by the dance department that year but admitted 25 students with good grades who had been rejected by the dance department. “Such a practice is more than unjust: it is discrimination, pure and simple, a disservice to the children of this city,” Mathesius wrote in her letter.

This time around, supporters of the petition have been similarly adamant that prospective students’ talent be valued more highly than their GPAs. Celebrity alumni such as actors Sarah Paulson and Geoffrey Arend have tweeted out the petition to their followers, and numerous signees have expressed their support in the comments. “As an alumni (2013), I was fortunate to have our previous principal, Kim Bruno, who instilled the love of the arts as LaGuardia High School was meant to be,” wrote Antonio Almeda-Lopez. “Although I understand her beliefs to promote academic excellence in the students applying, I disagree that her input to denying talented students with a lower academic profile to be unacceptable.”

Wartur called any de-emphasizing of the arts that may be taking place “a travesty.”

“As Howard Gardner of Harvard University pointed out to all of us, we all have multiple intelligences,” she said. “If your intelligence is in dance that doesn’t mean you lack intelligence. Dance is a form of intelligence and a profoundly impactful type of literacy.”

Reporter Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com