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Courtesy of Jeff Lott | Swarthmore Communications

The Chester Children’s Chorus, seen here rehearsing, provided the inspiration for John Alston to create the Chester-Upland School of the Arts.

BY ARIEL MARTINO

In print | September 11, 2008

This past week, the Chester Upland School of the Arts opened in the Parry Building, which formerly housed Chester High School. The public magnet school is a result of the efforts of Dr. John Alston, a Swarthmore music professor and director of the Chester Children’s Chorus.

The school will combine rigorous academic work with music, dance and visual art classes. Currently, the school offers instruction for two hundred students ages three through eight. Alston hopes to expand the number of students by continuing the school through eighth grade and expanding the size of each grade. In order to gain admission to CUSA, interested parents attended two meetings and entered their children in a lottery.

“There is a huge community interest and it’s possible to expand class sizes. We could probably support three or four three-year-old classes and four four-year old classes if we had the money,” Alston said.

CUSA is the culmination of four years of work for John Alston, but the seed of the idea for a public magnet school was planted nearly fourteen years ago when Alston was a new professor at Swarthmore. He hoped to recreate his positive experience with the Newark Boys’ Choir with children in Chester. “Growing up in a poor city, in a single parent household, why wouldn’t I want to recreate that [experience]? It was the best experience of my life.” Alston said.

The Chester Children’s Chorus began in 1994 with seven boys. Since that time, it has expanded to include 95 boys and girls from the Chester-Upland School District. The students are chosen by audition while in second grade and receive a full scholarship through high school upon selection. The summer program has also evolved to include instruction in math and science as well as intense musical training.

Sarah Posey ’04 provided the impetus needed to move the Chester Children’s Choir in a new direction. Posey, who had been very involved with the Chester Children’s Chorus throughout her Swarthmore career, completed her senior thesis on progressive education. Alston credits her with providing the information he needed about education to get the ball rolling on the expansion of Chester Children’s Choir. “She was the most profound influence and change in the Chester Children’s Choir,” Alston said.

After Posey’s influence, Alston began to gain a clearer picture of how a school might integrate arts and academics to promote a more positive learning experience. “Children need hundreds of thousands of positive experiences to grow into healthy adults. A school can give them thousands of positive experience, but a school can’t do it all. We do our part, maybe a little more,” Alston said.
However, Alston lacked the experience in teaching and administration that was necessary to take on such an ambitious project. “I didn’t know how to teach, I went to professional school, not teaching school. My assumption, which was a little narcissistic, was that if music worked for me, it would work for everyone.”

Four years ago planning began for the new Chester-Upland School of the Arts through the Chester Fund for Education and the Arts. The Chester Fund is a non-profit corporation that supports the smaller class sizes, the commitment to the arts, and the free after-school program that is available to children in second grade and above.

Maurice Eldridge ’61, the Vice President for Class and Community Relations, is the chair of the Chester Fund and has been involved in the CUSA since its beginnings. “I absolutely believe in the work John wanted to do. I’ve always been an educator and I believe that arts are an important part of education,” Eldridge said. Eldridge also brought ten years of experience as the head of an arts school to the project.

Currently the Chester Fund funds only the Chester-Upland School of the Arts. However, depending on donations, it could also support future educational or artistic endeavors in Chester. When asked about any future plans for a high school, Alston said, “I’m dreaming about it.”

Money is a concern for the fledgling school. It takes about $40,000 per year to support each student, including instruction, facilities, supplies, transportation and meals.

The school relies heavily on donations through the Chester Fund to keep the quality of instruction and facilities up to par. Alston hopes to garner $1 million in donations for next year to support the expanding student body.

The school is public and the students do not have to pay tuition. Instead, it is supported by the Chester-Upland School District and under the jurisdiction of Gregory E. Thornton, the superintendent of the district and a veteran of the Philadelphia School district. He has made his commitment to the children of Chester very clear with projects encouraging high school students to go to college and encouraging interested students to pursue careers in health.

Alston acknowledged that the CUSA project would have been impossible without Thornton’s involvement but added that the Chester Fund is also responsible for keeping the quality of education high.

The high quality of education is a direct result of the resources available at the Chester-Upland School of the Arts. There is a dedicated teaching staff, which includes Posey, a host of new computers for technology classes, a professional dance studio, an art studio, and a music facility, which is equipped with xylophones and African drums.

The Chester Fund also makes it possible to offer an after-school program for the current second-graders free of charge. The program offers time to do homework, extended music classes, and a snack time. The after-school program will expand to encompass all students in second grade and older.

While the school is clearly the result of a collaborative effort, Alston deserves accolades for his dedication and commitment to the project. “[Alston] is the visionary. He’s a wonderful teacher. He’s got energy, charisma, a genuine love for the kids, and he’s determined to make them succeed,” Eldridge said.

Now that the school is in session, it remains to be seen how CUSA will interact with the Chester Children’s Chorus.

They are each separate organizations, and students in the Chester Children’s Chorus are too old to enroll in CUSA. But it will be interesting to see if the Swarthmore community will offer the same support for CUSA as it does for CCC.

“Once [CUSA] feels [itself] established and the growing pains and opening kinks are ironed out, hopefully we’ll begin to form a stronger bond. It’s possible to form a link between the school and the education department. There are lots of ways for Swarthmore students to share their talents,” Eldridge said.

The school has been up and running for about a week and has maintained perfect attendance — a feat that is usually unheard of in a public school.

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