From Margaret Sclafani ('04)

Dear Mr. Kosasky:

It has come to my attention that St. Andrew’s has decided to cut all non-elective dance classes from its middle school arts programming. I urge you to reconsider this particular decision and all decisions that limit and undermine the creative arts at St. Andrew’s.

While I was not fortunate enough to attend middle school at St. Andrew’s, I did arrive in ninth grade and was reawakened to the world of dance and enabled in other artistic pursuits in theatre and visual arts. I was mainly attracted to St. Andrew’s in my application process because of the “four pillars” it promised and the combination of strong academics and arts programs which I had come to appreciate at Capitol Hill Day School. Many of the alumni from my elementary school attend other elite high schools in the metropolitan area, familiar names I am sure: GDS, Edmund Burke, Sidwell Friends, Bullis, and Maret. I did not apply to these schools for high school mainly because of their reputation as “jock schools”, and in that regard I mean schools that place athletic sports teams above the arts and above most budgetary allotment reductions. St. Andrew’s presented an alternative that was very attractive: arts and academics. It’s why I chose the school, and it’s why I enrolled and have continued to support my choice.

While St. Andrew’s was in no means perfect while I attended, I gained a great deal from the artistic outlets I was able to pursue whilst a student there: artistic achievements and involvements that still impress my young professional peers and employers in my current field as a film maker. Without the dance education I received at St. Andrew’s I would not have the confidence and poise that I have today. For a young woman seeking a place to belong and grow and learn, dance classes and the education my friends in high school had received in their middle school movement classes was a blessing. Ms. Kanter and Sarah Rosner taught me so much about my self. Without their dance foundations in the lower grades, I am sure my experience of community and connection I felt upon entering and remaining at St. Andrew’s throughout the four years of high school would have not been the same—a community that has continued to surround me in my years at Bryn Mawr College and beyond.

It is my hope that you will reconsider this choice to eliminate and undermine the performing arts and especially the dance program at St. Andrew’s. It has enriched my life beyond your walls and beyond what words herein can fully express.

Finally, I will share a very personal quote that was written to me by a dance teacher of mine shortly before she died:

“Dance is the only art wherein we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made.”

As a filmmaker please excuse this final reference: don’t repeat the mistakes of Mr. Holland’s Opus; don’t cut arts funding! Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Margaret Sclafani
Cum Laude Class of 2004