Mrs. Lynch, you don't see a distinction between an elective class that a student receives academic credit for (which may include evaluation related components taking place outside of regular class hours), versus an extra-curricular activity then? Or do you? Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you positing that an elective class for which a student receives academic credits necessary for graduation, although perhaps selected because they "like" it (such as extra art classes in your example above) is the same thing as an extracurricular activity?
I feel like you're dodging the heart of this issue by using vague abstractions while you paint calls to address these things by their basic definitions as subjective abstractions themselves, rather than the objective definitions that they truly are. I don't think people are worried about their kids not being able to go on a drama club field trip because they're failing algebra. The major concern here, as voiced by myself, Mr. Andree, and Mrs. Burns, and no doubt held by countless others, is that the school committee, as Mr. Andree puts it, possesses an "inability to differentiate academic versus extra-curricular." Whether this is due to small town politics or legitimate cognitive inability, it is disturbing either way.
It's great you guys think Arts teachers are swell folks, and that Art and Athletics are both important, and you want kids to be well rounded. These are not exactly profound or revelatory insights though. Meanwhile, the answer to the question about whether the s.c. sees a difference between academic (specifically in this case, classes outside of reading, writing, and arithmetic) and extracurricular is just as present as it was before you weighed in above.
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