The band room will be silent in Westerville City Schools next fall, the football stadiums will be empty and the curtains will not go up in the theaters.
Music, athletics and the arts were officially chopped Monday night by the district's board of education.
Following a failed Nov. 2011 levy, $23 million had to be cut from the district's budget.
It also means nearly 80 teaching jobs will be cut, along with administrators and staff members.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, hundreds of students from Westerville's high schools' marching bands played music together in a sign of solidarity before the meeting began.
It could end up being one of the last times such a concert is heard.
In front of a packed cafeteria, the board approved significant cuts for next school year, including music, arts and athletics.
That's just to name a few off a lengthy list. Click here for more information on the cuts.
Not only does Westerville South Junior Brian Poland face a senior year without marching band, he may also have to say goodbye to tennis.
"I think it's already sunk in for me. I’ve realized that my life is going to be very much affected by the outcome," he said. "It's going to be hard. It's going to be very different. There's going to be a lack of the music and a lack of tennis for me and sports and all the way across the board, and it's just going to be hard to deal with."
Emma Henderson is a senior at Westerville North and is involved in theatre, choir and swimming.
Even though she won't be affected by the cuts, she worries for younger students.
"I can't imagine other people not having the same opportunities. It's really broadened my horizons and given me a chance to experience things I wouldn't be able to experience otherwise, so it's a tragedy if it's gone," Emma said.
She also can't help but think of the jobs that will be lost.
“We’ve had some teachers for three or four years in band and choir, and knowing they're not going to be there next year, someone we can really rely on, is going to be sad," she said.
Parents are also worried about how the cuts will affect their children.
Anna Malone's oldest daughter, Lilli, is in second grade, and art is her favorite class.
Anna said she worries that if the art class were cut, it would negatively affect her daughter' school work.
"There is more than getting a whole education and getting children ready for the world than just teaching them those facts and figures," Anna said.
Anna said Lilli learns more through art than she does listening to a teacher.
"To say that art and music are not important enough to include in the curriculum says that you are saying to children who learn that way, who learn through that medium, that it's not a valid way to learn. And you are going to leave them behind," she said.
Erica Hinkle, who teaches art at Genoa Middle, agrees.
She said the visual arts have a far-reaching effect on her students.
"Many studies have shown that kids that are involved in visual arts do better on standardized testing because the visual arts encompass all the core subjects," Hinkle said.
For parents, teachers and students, there is some hope in the form of a 6.7-mill levy that voters will decide on March 6.
If approved, it would save a number of programs and jobs. However, the district would still have to make $7 million in cuts.
Westerville Central Art Teacher Derrick Ehlen said he hopes the levy passes.
Ehlen said it's important for his students to take elective courses to help them get into college.
"They are going to look a lot more impressive on a transcript, or even at a job interview, and are going to have skills from that art class that make them more marketable," Ehlen said.
Anna said she has heard from parents who are concerned that the quality of the teachers will decrease when the reductions happen.
She said they worry about how the cuts will affect the community.
"They are concerned that too much is going to be cut, that the cuts are going to be too deep, that if the levy fails, and then what kind of education are our kids going to get and what kind of community are we going to live in? And can they stay," said Anna.
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