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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-05-12 City CouncilBUDGET ’98- ’99 City of Palo Alto City Manager’s Report TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL ATTENTION: FINANCE COMMITTEE FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: COMMUNITY SERVICES DATE: SUBJECT: MAY 12, 1998 CMR: 202:98 CHILDREN’S THEATRE OUTREACH PROGRAM BACKGROUND At the 1996-97 Finance Committee budget~hearings on the Community ServiceDepartment, the City Manager recommended adding additional funds to support the Children’s Theatre School Outreach Program. The recommendation for additional funding assumed ~ ~ the Children’s Theatre would develop an equitable rotation plan. The rotation plan woul~ ~,erve all Palo Alto elementary and middle schools in a two-year period, but not serve all the elementary schools in every year. This report describes the status of the Children’s Theatre Outreach Program and the success of the rotation system. DISCUSSION Selection of schools for.the Outreach Program was initiated by sending a letter to all elementary and middle schools in Palo Alto. The letter was mailed May 2, 1997. This letter stated that the schools that had not received the program the previous yearwould have first choice. If any school elected not to participate, then a school would be selected from those not scheduled to participate. Children’s Theatre staff held a meeting with representatives from most of the schools. Addison School chose not to participate, providing an opportunity to select a new school to fill the vacancy. E1 Carmelo was selected by draw, which did not preclude its scheduled participation in the next year. Available dates were presented to the representatives and by draw the order of presentation ~as selected. The seven schools selected for the FY 1997-98 Outreach Program are: E1 Carmelo, Juana Briones, Escondido, Walter Hays, and Hoover elementary schools; and JLS and Jordan middle schools. The eight schools selected for FY 1998-99 will be Ohlone, Palo Verde, Fairmeadow, E1 Carmelo, Nixon, Duveneck, and JLS and Jordan middle schools. The attached table’ provides a detailed review of the schools served in FY 1997-98. The table includes the name of the production, and the attendance for each school served. CMR:202:98 Page 1 of 2 Staff has not received any complaints regarding this new process, although the school Parent Teacher Association (PTA) c6ntinue to .request regularly that their schools be provided the Outreach Program annually. Staff has made the PTA aware of the rotation plan. The Palo Alto Unified School District has proposed the addition of a new elementary school, planned to open in September 1998. If approved, this would bring the number of Palo Alto elementary schools to ten. To meet the staff goal of serving all Palo Alto elementary and middle schools every two years, additional funds will be needed to accommodate the new school into the rotation plan. If the rotation plan is continued, placing, the new school into the rotation for FY 1999-2000 may be desirable. RESOURCE IMPACT The cost to provide Children’s Theatre Outreach for eight schools is $71,400 and includes funding for six plays and two musicals exclusive of regular staff salaries. PREPARED BY: Leon Kaplan, Director Arts & Culture Pat Briggs, Manager Children’s Theatre DEPARTMENT HEAD PAUL TI-IILTGEN Director, Community Services Department CITY MANAGER: City Manager CMR:202:98 Page 2 of 2 0o o o 0000 0 00 000 o~ ¯ ~ ~ .