Fountain Valley High School to discontinue theatre course offerings

Los Angeles Times

2 days ago

Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) will discontinue its theatre course offerings at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, following the reassignment of FVHS Theatre teacher Robert Zick to Ocean View High School.
Zick, who currently teaches theatre part-time at both schools, will teach English and Social Theater at Ocean View in the fall.
'It was not my decision … I didn't get a real reason for why it's happening, with the exception of the sections that are not available here [at Fountain Valley],' Zick, who found out about his reassignment last week, said. 'I believe what's happening is that they're trying to deal with declining enrollment through the district and the permanent contracts for teachers.'
FVHS Principal Paul Lopez cited declining enrollment districtwide and declining student interest in theater as the reasons for the discontinuation of theatre course offerings. In the past few years, FVHS has offered theatre classes with enrollment at what Lopez described as 'low numbers.'
In a transfer announcement email obtained by Baron Banner and sent by Director of Human Resources Dr. Morgan Smith, Ocean View currently has at least one opening for an English teacher. Zick is credentialed to teach English and previously taught English classes at Fountain Valley.
'We're in a situation where [Huntington Beach Union High School District] is not hiring teachers because of declining enrollment,' Lopez said. 'So there's a person that has a credential that has low numbers in other classes, and there's a need at another school.'
As a permanent status teacher, Zick is an employee of HBUHSD, meaning he is only guaranteed a job matching his credential at one of six school sites — not a particular school.
'It's a move at district level to allocate personnel and get the numbers where it needs to be for the students in our district,' Assistant Principal of Guidance Casey Harelson said. 'It's not something we're celebrating or happy about, but we understand it has to happen when there's declining enrollment.'
Due to the low interest in theatre courses, including fewer than 20 upperclassmen for the next school year, Lopez confirmed FVHS is unable to hire a new teacher for these theatre sections.
'I don't know why interest is declining,' Zick said. 'I know theatre can be scary to students when they're first coming into high school, but I've had seniors wish they did it earlier. A lot of students find their home and their voice here in a safe place to be whoever they are.'
The program's future
When Zick first arrived at FVHS as a theatre teacher, he slowly built the program up to five sections before the COVID-19 pandemic. Declining interest, Zick's part-time assignment between two schools and the relocation of the Social Theatre class, a unified theater class for special education students, have created challenges at FVHS.
Currently, FVHS students have the opportunity to take either a fourth-period Theatre 1, 2 or 3 class or a seventh period Theatre Production class. Theatre 1, 2 or 3 are designed to develop an actor's knowledge and understanding, while Theatre Production is where students rehearse and design the program's various productions.
This year's productions include 'The Play That Goes Wrong,' 'Pippin: The Musical' and 'She Kills Monsters.' The program has two final productions for this school year: 'The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals' and 'Check, Please!?'
Although Zick says he understands elements of HBUHSD's position, he believes there are other paths to consider for FVHS Theatre's future. This includes utilizing Proposition 28, the California Art and Music in Schools Initiative, which provides additional funding for arts education, to build robust arts programs at each school site that incorporate various forms of visual and performing arts. Proposition 28 funds have been used to hire various new performing arts coaches at Fountain Valley.
'I think the theater community here right now is going to do whatever we can to ensure that there is a path for theater to continue, whether it is through a club or if there can be a class or pooling resources from the community to ensure these students here have an opportunity to continue to do theater,' Zick said. 'It's just figuring out what is the best path forward.'
FVHS is currently exploring various alternatives to continue the theatre program on campus, including an after-school format.
According to Harelson, there are other theatre classes still available in HBUHSD. This includes Marina High School's zero period and after-school production classes or the Academy for the Performing Arts, the arts magnet program at Huntington Beach High School. It's possible for students' schedules to be accommodated by pursuing theater at another site and academics at FVHS.
'I know Lopez and I are both committed to do everything we can to support the small but passionate group of theater students we have here, and we are currently still exploring alternatives,' Harelson said.
'People should know it's not an intentional thing. It's not that we needed to shut down the theater because they had low numbers,' Lopez added. 'We've been running it with low numbers, which is hard to do with declining enrollment. It's a matter of the whole system working together.'
Theatre students' response
FVHS Theatre students learned of the news on Monday afternoon through an announcement from Zick himself.
Both a change.org petition and a social media account have been created by members of the theatre program to advocate for their concerns for the future of FVHS Theatre. At the time of publication, the petition has received over 2,900 signatures from current and former Theatre students, as well as other community supporters.
'Theatre at FVHS has not only been a space for artistic expression but a crucial safe haven for countless students. Unlike any other space within the school, it provides a nurturing environment where creativity thrives, students find their voices, and a unique sense of belonging is cultivated,' senior Lizzy Doan, author of the petition, wrote. 'We understand that due to low enrollment and issues outside of our control as students, these classes and the theatre program overall are being cut. However, there are still many students currently at FVHS, and incoming students as well, who benefit from the theatre program.'
According to comments on a recent post, the 'Save FVHS Theatre' group is planning to organize a dress-up day, contact HBUHSD officials, speak at an upcoming board meeting next Thursday and advocate on social media.
'It's been affecting me emotionally. [Theatre has] been a home, a home away from home for me as much as it is for the students. We had our banquet on Friday, we had an award ceremony [Sunday] and we've got a series of shows that we'll do this week,' Zick said. 'I'm holding on to that mantra 'the show must go on,' so we're going to finish the year strong.' Related