Philadelphia Inquirer: Chester School Thrives With Focus On The Arts

By Art Carey
Inquirer Staff Writer
October 14, 2009

John Alston is an avid cyclist. With a tailwind, he can pedal from Chester to Swarthmore - just over two miles - in about six minutes. That's how close the two communities are. In most other respects, they are far apart. Swarthmore is mostly white and rich. Chester is mostly black and poor.

Alston, an associate professor of music at Swarthmore College, is well aware of the difference.

"There's no way to justify the disparity of opportunity between two communities that are so geographically close," says Alston, 48, of Brookhaven. "Money shouldn't be the determining factor for something as basic as education."

Fifteen years ago, Alston decided to rectify the disparity in his own small way. He recruited children from Chester elementary schools and began the Chester Children's Chorus. His inspiration was his own experience. When he was 11, he joined the Newark Boys Chorus in North Jersey.

"It saved me," Alston says. "It allowed me to develop the skills to teach at a place like Swarthmore College."

The success of the chorus (it has grown from seven members to 104 today) spurred Alston to imagine doing more. The result: the Chester Upland School of the Arts, an experiment that could serve as a model for urban education not just in Chester but the nation.

The goal is to create a school that offers advantages to the disadvantaged, that is amply endowed with resources, and that employs intensive instruction in the arts to foster academic achievement and personal growth.

"This is a real opportunity to compete with children in the most affluent school districts in the United States," Aston says. "If they can learn to love Palestrina, they can learn to love Shakespeare. If they can learn to love Rossini, they can learn to love Tolstoy and Austen."

The Chester Upland School of the Arts (CUSA) is a public elementary school that has partnered with the Chester Fund for Education and the Arts, a nonprofit organization formed by Alston and others to support the school.

Last year, when CUSA opened, it went only as far as second grade. Last month, classes resumed with more than 240 pupils, from pre-K to third grade. As those children progress, the school will eventually teach students up to eighth grade, and ultimately, Alston hopes, through high school.

The private assistance CUSA receives from the Chester Fund - nearly $2.3 million so far - has enabled the school to afford the "extras" that are the essence of what makes it distinctive: intensive instruction in the arts, with full-time teachers of music, dance, studio art, as well as computer technology; classes of 20 students, with two adults in every class; an extended-day program during which students continue their work in music, dance and studio art, or receive tutoring and help with homework.

"Everything the research says about best practices, and how to mitigate the challenges of poverty, we're doing in this school," says Gregory Thornton, superintendent of the Chester Upland School District and a champion of CUSA. "Does poverty or a zip code determine a student's outcome? That's the big question, and this is a big bet. If we miss, I don't know what we do next."

There are encouraging signs. At the beginning of last school year, CUSA ranked second to last among the district's six elementary schools in reading and math skills. By year's end, it had climbed to second from the top, and one kindergarten class achieved the district's highest scores.

Little wonder that Chester parents are clamoring to have their children admitted. Students are chosen by lottery, but still, says Thornton, his phone "rings off the hook." CUSA is quartered in a refurbished building that was originally Chester High School. Inside, it is clean and new, bright, and colorful. A sign on a classroom doors exhorts: "Laugh. Dance. Sing." The children need no prodding. Dressed in khaki pants or skirts and navy blue polo shirts, they are polite and happy.

"We got art, music, dance, and computers," boasts Kabree Daniels, 8, a third grader who likes to paint, draw, and color, and who hopes to become an artist.

"We're able to do fun things here you can't do at other schools," says Denae Powell, also 8 and in third grade. "We have great teachers and a great principal."

Her mother, Tonya Powell, agrees, "When your child is excited to go to school every day, that says something great about the teachers. . . . You can tell they're not teaching just for a paycheck."

Janet Baldwin, 57, CUSA's principal, considers herself fortunate to be leading the school.

"We've been given the resources, the teachers, and the support we need to be successful," she says. "Not just financial and physical support but emotional and philosophical support for a vision of high achievement
through the arts."

But with high expectations also comes pressure. Says Baldwin: "We have to hit a home run."

The other day, as Alston strolled the halls of CUSA, children greeted him with smiles, hugs, and high-fives.

"Hello, Dr. Alston," a girl in pigtails said.

"I hope you're ready to bring it today," Alston said to a lad who responded with admiring eyes.

Alston exchanged greetings with Vince Wilson, 22, an alumnus of the Chester Children's Chorus who took a year off from college to serve as a teaching assistant at CUSA.

"He transformed my life," Wilson says of Alston. "He helped discover the music that was in me."

Now Wilson tries to do the same for others, serving as a mentor for boys and young men in the Chester Children's Chorus and as a role model at CUSA.

"I want the kids to see a different kind of male," Wilson says, "males who are interested in learning, males who like culture and art."

About 3 p.m., the students gathered in the Sunshine Room for their "All-School Sing." Playing the electronic keyboard, Alston led them in a series of spirited songs. They concluded by singing the school song, "I Am Somebody."

I am bright, I am beautiful

I am wise, I am wonderful

I am special, I am smart
Love and joy grow in my heart.

Afterward, his brow glistening, Alston confessed that, yes, at times it's exhausting - being "on" for the kids all the time, having to raise more than a million dollars a year to support both the school and the chorus.

"I do it because I can and I should and I must," he says. "Art is the thing that patches some of the holes we have in our hearts. The wounds never go away, but making music and beautiful things helps us get through the day and maybe figure out what to do and become next."

Contact staff writer Art Carey
at 610-313-8106 or acarey@phillynews.com
Reprinted with permission from The Philadelphia Inquirer.