With their sleeves rolled up and hair tied back, a classroom of Santa Rosa High School ArtQuest juniors put the finishing touches on self portraits recently. Most were done in paint, but others used forms like oil pastels and colored pencils.
The campus’ acclaimed ArtQuest fine arts specialty aims to help students try new techniques and discover themselves through their art, said teacher and program coordinator Brooke Delello.
“It’s their art,” she said Tuesday. Most of the students have been in the magnet program for three years. “Process is huge for us. And exploration and practice. The more materials we can introduce them to, the more they’re learning who they are as an artist.”
On the other side of the ArtQuest courtyard – a designated group of classrooms that is a second home for many of the students – an advanced group of theatre students were practicing a scene from “The Bacchae,” a Greek tragedy by Euripides, where the characters participate in a ritual.
Performing the scene each year, with seniors leading the juniors, before an audience of younger schoolmates and middle schoolers is a decades-long tradition in ArtQuest that serves as a kind of welcome.
This year, the students said, it felt clouded by concerns about the future of the 32-year-old program.
Alex Boúrde, a junior in the ArtQuest visual arts specialty, focus on the fine details with while completing a self-portrait project Tuesday, March 10, 2026 at Santa Rosa high school. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Junior Flynn Bryne focuses on completing a self-portrait project Tuesday, March 10, 2026 in the visual arts specialty at Santa Rosa high school.
Juniors Sofia Peña, right, and Eralin Hughes focus on completing their self-portrait projects Tuesday, March 10, 2026 in the visual arts specialty at Santa Rosa high school. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Junior Rebecca Owens focuses on completing a self-portrait project Tuesday, March 10, 2026 in the visual arts specialty at Santa Rosa high school. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
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Alex Boúrde, a junior in the ArtQuest visual arts specialty, focus on the fine details with while completing a self-portrait project Tuesday, March 10, 2026 at Santa Rosa high school. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Speculation began swirling in early March about cuts to ArtQuest, in the form of changing student schedules. One reported proposal would involve halving instruction time for all students with a two-period block schedule. Students in ArtQuest’s largest specialties, theater and visual arts, as well as those in the photography, video arts and digital arts specialties would drop from two full class periods, totaling two hours of continuous instruction, to one hour-long period.
Santa Rosa High School counselors, who did not want to be named for fear of retaliation, said they are being told to prepare ArtQuest students for a backup plan, should they not be able to take two consecutive periods of art next school year. They are currently meeting with students to create class schedules for the year.
By shortening ArtQuest class time from two periods to one, district leaders would narrow instruction time and enable cuts to the program’s ranks of teachers.
Interim Superintendent Lisa August Hume confirmed March 10 that there will be reductions to the master schedule at Santa Rosa High School, which every year changes based on enrollment across the campus and in specific programs. But she would not confirm whether the two-hour ArtQuest block schedule will be reduced as a result of these campuswide changes.
“We are actively looking at fiscal options in collaboration with Santa Rosa High School and look forward to working along our ArtQuest team to identify solutions for ways to ensure that we protect the integrity of a phenomenal opportunity for students,” August Hulme said in an official statement March 13. “Our new fiscal reality means that we must look at how we deliver programs and services. Students continue to be able to submit course requests based on their interests, which in turn influences how we approach master scheduling.”
The budget ripples for ArtQuest appear stronger at this point than at least one other prized high school specialty program. Montgomery’s International Baccalaureate staff members are protected by skipping criteria, meaning they are shielded from general layoffs like those afoot this year. That program actually expanded this year to offer classes to middle schoolers.
It is unclear other specialized programs, including Piner High’s Health Science and Biotechnology Program and Elsie Allen’s University Center also are bracing for cuts.
Together, the programs have constituted some of the main curricular incentives touted by officials to attract and retain students, even as enrollment slipped districtwide over the past decade or so, doing much to fuel the district’s current budget crisis.
The district already approved about 120 staff layoffs in February as part of its sweeping fiscal recovery plan said to save $35 million in ongoing and one-time costs. Notices went out last week to affected teachers to meet the state deadline of March 15 for school districts to alert employees of potential layoffs.
In early layoff plans approved by board members in February, at least seven of those staff include are high school fine arts teachers and two are high school theater teachers, according to district board agenda documents. Because all layoffs are based on seniority, it is unclear whether layoffs will directly impact ArtQuest; if ArtQuest teachers are low on the seniority list and receive a layoff notice, it is unclear whether those staff will be replaced.
ArtQuest teachers say the lack of assurance and confirmation on whether the changes are set in stone have caused students to panic, and in some cases, has led prospective transfer students to withdraw their applications.
And they fear any dismantling of the two-period schedule will cause irreparable damage to the strength of the vaunted program.
“ArtQuest was specifically designed as a specialized magnet program to go above and beyond the traditional fine arts,” Delello said. “Teaching in the visual arts, having that two hours is really an opportunity to get to the depth that we are able to, to treat the students like working artists.”
ArtQuest visual arts teacher Brooke Delello, right, works with junior Talia Loarie on her self-portrait project Tuesday, March 10, 2026 at Santa Rosa High School. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
District leaders have been meeting with Santa Rosa High School administrators to identify possible funding sources to maintain ArtQuest offerings. Delello said she has not yet been looped in to collaborate.
And after a handful of ArtQuest students and teachers spoke out at the March 11 school board meeting, President Nick Caston said the board would address ArtQuest and other specialized programs at the next meeting on March 25.
Training ground for artists
The ArtQuest theater students were in full costume March 10 when they practiced their scene from “The Bacchae.” Some held props, others held large drums in between their legs, tapping a rhythm that served as the heartbeat of the scene.
The elaborate rehearsals allow the students to perfect the material they perform, said theater teacher Jereme Anglin. That diligence regularly earns acclaim. This year, for example, at the Lenaea High School Theater Festival in Folsom, ArtQuest’s theater students won 10 individual awards, while their original satirical play, “Liberty and JustICE” – written in collaboration with The Imaginists theater group of Santa Rosa – won the top honors for a play.
Earlier in the week, the students rehearsed “Liberty and JustICE” in preparation for a sold-out show Friday night, March 13, at The Imaginists’ playhouse.
“By having two hours of time, I’m able to get the kids into costume, maybe they’re in corsets, wigs, makeup,” Anglin said. “The time we have is not only to train the students but also rehearse a play up to a professional level.”
Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat
Santa Rosa High School ArtQuest student Leila Paine rehearses her monologue for “Great Roles for Older Actresses” by Andrew R. Heine at the Black Box Theatre in Santa Rosa, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat)
Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat
Santa Rosa High School ArtQuest student Elljay Broderick rehearses his monologue from “Rare Birds” by Adam Szymkowicz at the Black Box Theatre in Santa Rosa, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat)
Dean Jahnsen
Ross Winn, a Santa Rosa High School junior (left) as Charlie Brown and Cynthia Richards, also a junior, as Van’s sister during dress rehearsals for the ArtQuest performance of Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead. The show was canceled by the district for “inappropriate messaging” after opening night. (Dean Jahnsen)
Laurel Merrick
ArtQuest theater students Alison Green, left, and Grace Green perform in the original play “Redacted” at the 2025 Lenaea High School Theatre Festival. The Santa Rosa High School group went on to win the top “Spirit of Lenaea” award. (Laurel Merrick)
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Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat
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Santa Rosa High School ArtQuest student Leila Paine rehearses her monologue for “Great Roles for Older Actresses” by Andrew R. Heine at the Black Box Theatre in Santa Rosa, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat)
The setup makes makes students feel more like working artists, they said.
“I feel like this class is a lot closer to a college-level class than a high school level because of that extra time,” said 12th grader theater student Ernie Renner. “Having that extra time to really hone the craft… you really get that chance to do as much and as best as you can.”
The program is as much a launchpad as a rigorous training ground, propelling those who’ve long dreamed of becoming an actor, painter, sculptor or photographer.
“ArtQuest theatre has opened so many doors,” said 12th grader theatre student Liliana Vera. “The resources we have… it has opened my eyes to the possibilities.”
A plea for more information
Santa Rosa City Schools is poised to make cuts to the ArtQuest program through the reduction of class periods students spend in their specialty at Santa Rosa High School, Tuesday, March 10, 2026 (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Over weeks, Delello and other ArtQuest staff members have requested more information about what’s in store for the program. They’ve taken little solace that their program was not on the chopping block entirely.
“It’s a very worrisome time because we know there’s big changes but no one is telling us exactly what they’re going to be,” Anglin said. “The lack of information coming from the district and the administration seems like a way to avoid difficult conversations.”
The void is creating a domino effect, teachers say, one that they fear will diminish the program’s enrollment.
“I do harbor a lot of guilt for the incoming students,” said Delello, who as coordinator is responsible for outreach. “We tell these students these great things that the ArtQuest program has to offer them, these two-hour classes and so many families applied to our program on this basis, with this knowledge.”
Nearly every student in the advanced theater class of 26 transferred to Santa Rosa High School either from another campus within the district or from another district entirely. One student drives from Geyserville, another from Cloverdale. A third comes from American Canyon.
“ArtQuest is not just a program, it’s a community,” said 11th grader Dexter Williams, who transferred into ArtQuest from Montgomery High. “Nowhere in any other of my classes do I actually feel connected to my classmates in any way. It feels like if they cut ArtQuest, they’re cutting my friends. It’s so personal to me.”
Caston, the school board president, said nothing is set in stone.
“The conversation around what can be done to meet financial realities often gets turned into what’s happening instead of, we’re vetting… brainstorming what could happen,” Caston said. “You could remove the double block and do something else but there was no decision yet.”
In the meantime, the unease adds up to more anxiety for champions of the program, with a decadeslong diaspora now in the arts world.
“There’s fear that people will forget that we’re here,” Delello said. “That we will fade into obscurity.”
Report For America corps member Adriana Gutierrez covers education and child welfare issues for The Press Democrat. You can reach her at Adriana.Gutierrez@pressdemocrat.com.