Guest Column: Cartoon offensive, facts inaccurate

Guest Column: Cartoon offensive, facts inaccurate



By PHILIP McDANIEL
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 11/30/08


I was saddened and disappointed to see your artist's cartoon in the Nov. 23 Record regarding the school district administration. The image was as offensive as it was inaccurate.

Since well before my involvement with the St. Johns Cultural Council, I have known and admired Dr. Joe Joyner. We met in the Leadership St. Johns class of 2004. From our very first conversation, I knew that Joe understood and valued visual and performing arts as an integral part of a high-quality, public education.

For your information, every elementary school in the district offers art and music, along with all our middle and high schools. National studies confirm the correlation between strong arts curriculum and academic achievement.

I firmly believe that this one of the main reasons why St. Johns County schools consistently rank in the top three counties (out of 67) in the state.

To further the point of the district's support of arts and music, we are perhaps the only county of our size in the state to have not one, but two specialized centers for arts learning: St. Augustine High and Murray Middle School Centers for the Arts.

While we may be in for some rough times in the next 12 to 24 months, I sleep well at night knowing our school district's administration will continue to protect and support student access to arts, music, and theater.

On behalf of the St. Johns County Cultural Council, we are proud of our partnership with the county's artists, cultural organizations and, in particular, our school district.

Note to artist: Please check your facts next time before you mislead (sic) the public with a rendering as erroneous as the one in question. It's ironic that you would have used your artistic skills in defamation (sic) of the very subject that is one the most valued in our school district.

Philip McDaniel is a 15-year resident of St. Augustine and has been associated with several quality of life projects including Project SWING, the New Davis Shores Park, and the restoration of the Cultural Center at St. Augustine Beach Pier. He currently serves as board president for the St. Johns County Cultural Council, the local arts agency for St. Johns County.


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