SEQUIM — It’s only a mushroom, but the figure displayed at the front of Yvonne Pepin-Wakefield’s art classroom made for an intriguing challenge to first-graders trying to replicate it on their drawing pads, using their own skill levels and imaginations.
“Here’s the easiest way to draw one of these,” Pepin-Wakefield told her class Thursday as she slowly drew half-moon shapes and curved lines to kickstart the young artists’ work.
Pepin-Wakefield is the Sequim School District’s only art teacher for elementary grades, splitting her time between Greywolf and Helen Haller schools.
She’s also a Ph.D and former Fulbright scholar who believes art education is a holistic pursuit that nurtures discipline, good posture and even linear mathematical abilities in younger children.
She shows up to class every day with Bucky, a certified therapy dog Pepin-Wakefield says has an uncanny ability to calm and direct students.
But if her employer fails to pass a two-year, $5.16 million replacement maintenance and operations levy in a special election ending May 18, she probably will find herself teaching a core grade-level class — and the 175 students she’s shared her passion with on a daily basis will have to find other ways to explore fine arts.
The district’s failed levy attempt in February led to $1.5 million in budget cuts, finalized Monday by its Board of Directors.
Among those cuts were music and art education at the elementary level, which wiped out two full-time positions covering both primary schools.
Also gone are all competitive sports at each school and most extracurricular activities.
