Cites “the cumulative effect of years of cuts, instability, neglect, and diminishing support”.

by Harry Duke

Santa Rosa High School’s award-winning ArtQuest Theatre program has lost Jereme Anglin as a Theatre Arts teacher. In a lengthy letter of resignation submitted to the Santa Rosa High School Administration and Santa Rosa City Schools on June 29, 2026, Anglin lists numerous reasons why he no longer believes “this district is willing to support it in the way our students deserve” and that the systems meant to support them have grown “increasingly indifferent”.

Here is the complete text of Anglin’s letter of resignation:

To the Santa Rosa High School Administration and Santa Rosa City Schools,

When I accepted this position in 2017, I did so with gratitude and excitement. I was hired under a CTE credential, spent two years completing the required training, and converted all of ArtQuest Theatre courses from VAPA to align with CTE standards. I believed I was joining a district that valued arts education and understood the importance of preserving exceptional programs for students.

Over the last nine years, I have watched that belief slowly erode.

During my tenure, our program weathered repeated controversies surrounding artistic expression. When a production I directed became the center of a national conversation on censorship, my students and I found ourselves defending the principles of artistic freedom. The district ultimately apologized, and my students went on to receive state and national recognition for their work, their courage, and their commitment to artistic integrity. Not long afterward, students again found themselves defending their choice of college audition material before reason ultimately prevailed.

The challenges extended beyond artistic expression. Theatre storage was removed and relocated to a basement known to flood. Despite repeated warnings over many months, including warnings on the first day of rain, those concerns went unaddressed. When the flooding came, decades of costumes, props, set pieces, and program history were damaged or destroyed. Much of what was lost cannot be replaced.

The difficulties did not end there. In recent years, repeated requests for basic maintenance and necessary improvements to our Auditorium went unanswered. As a result, it became increasingly difficult to plan, rehearse, and present work at the level our students deserve. Problems that should have been addressed proactively instead became obstacles to be worked around, leaving students and staff to compensate through ingenuity, perseverance, and personal sacrifice rather than institutional support.

The result was a culture in which extraordinary effort became necessary simply to accomplish ordinary things. Excellence was expected, but the resources and responsiveness required to sustain that excellence were too often absent.

Throughout these years, I have loved teaching. I have loved my students. I have loved being part of ArtQuest. What I have not loved is watching extraordinary young artists continually asked to do more with less while the systems meant to support them grew increasingly indifferent.

I entered this profession as an artist and an educator. Increasingly, I found myself cast in the role of advocate, watchdog, and combatant. While those battles were necessary, they were never the work I hoped to devote my life to.

I have watched programs that once represented the pride of Santa Rosa High School gradually diminished. Programs such as Photo, Video, and Dance, once thriving pillars of the arts community, were reduced or eliminated. Today, Visual Fine Arts and Theatre face similar challenges.

I simply cannot envision a high level theatre program built around rehearsals, performances, and individualized coaching functioning effectively with class sizes exceeding thirty students. I already struggle when enrollment reaches twenty four because I believe every student deserves meaningful time on stage and thoughtful, individualized feedback. That level of attention is one of the values that defines my teaching, and I cannot, in good conscience, promise students an experience I know I cannot provide.

I am not leaving because I stopped believing in arts education. I am leaving because I no longer believe this district is willing to support it in the way our students deserve.

The cumulative effect of years of cuts, instability, neglect, and diminishing support has left me without confidence that our goals for arts education are aligned.

Therefore, with sadness, and not without grief, I submit my resignation.

I remain deeply proud of the work my students have accomplished. Their courage, artistry, integrity, and resilience have been among the greatest privileges of my career. They deserved a district that championed their creativity with the same enthusiasm with which they pursued it.

Great arts programs are fragile things. They are built slowly through trust, investment, and decades of care. They are far easier to dismantle than to create. My hope is that the artists and educators who come after me inherit something better than the conditions that have driven so many dedicated teachers away.

Thank you to the students, families, and colleagues who made this work meaningful. Serving this community has been one of the greatest honors of my professional life.

Please treat the next generation of artists more honorably than those who came before them. They deserve your trust, your investment, and your advocacy, not simply your expectations.

For the sake of the students who remain, I hope you choose to do better.

Sincerely,

Jereme Anglin

Theatre Arts Teacher
ArtQuest
Santa Rosa High School

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The Santa Rosa City Schools district, once under threat of state receivership after years of increased spending in the face of declining enrollment, continues to find itself in a precarious financial position despite declaring “a financial turnaround” earlier this year. The district’s solutions, described by Santa Rosa Teacher’s Asssociation president Kathryn Howell as “a house of cards”, have led to program eliminations and reductions, teacher and support staff layoffs, and increased class sizes.