Woodlawn School sixth-grader Scotty Thellman says 30 minutes isn’t enough time to sink his fingers into art class.

It’s a Wednesday morning, and the district’s early-release program giving Lawrence elementary teachers time to collaborate in the afternoon means the only contact Thellman will make with his ceramic mask project is while quickly watering his clay to prevent cracking.

“I wanted to play with clay,” said Thellman, 12. “My mask is going to have eyes, nose and weird markings.”

His teacher, Roi Holladay, appreciates his thirst for the art experience. Her voice can’t mask dissatisfaction with her powerlessness to alter the situation.

“I know you’re disappointed,” said Holladay, who devoted much of her abbreviated day at Woodlawn talking to students about art theory.

A majority of her students didn’t actually make art.

In an interview, she said collaboration time and teacher staffing changes adopted last year by the school board to save money had altered the picture of art instruction in the district.

“These kids aren’t getting the full measure of what I can do,” Holladay said.

Teachers in art, as well as music and physical education, were stretched thin in 2002-2003 as part of the school board’s adoption of $3.1 million in spending cuts and fee increases to balance the budget.

“We got schools served, but with less staff,” said Ann Bruemmer, the district’s director of arts and humanities.

Art teacher Roi Holladay presents a lesson about the history of masks to a sixth-grade class at Woodlawn School. Students listening are, from left, Jennifer Underwood, Scotty Thellman and Jacob Burchett.

Additional cuts might be made in the 2003-2004 budget. The school board instructed a budget committee to identify up to $4.5 million in possible reductions.

Bruemmer said it would be a challenge to shield music, art and physical education instruction from additional budget retrenchment.

She said she would argue “specials” teachers deliver curriculum that overlaps reading and math instruction in regular classrooms.

“In art, you teach about lines. They’re doing a lot of math. It’s practical application of what we’re trying to teach them,” Bruemmer said.

Holladay has taught art at Kennedy School for years. In August, the district added Woodlawn to her work schedule. She shares responsibility for Woodlawn’s art program with another teacher, both rotating through their schools on three-day cycles.

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Last year, Holladay taught 18 class sections in a normal week. She’s responsible for 21 class sections this year — 15 at Kennedy and six at Woodlawn.

If she’s at Woodlawn on collaboration Wednesday, Holladay churns through a half-dozen art classes, serves recess duty and eats lunch between 8 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. One group of students is rarely out of Holladay’s art room before the next group enters.

“You would get supplies out, have 10 minutes, then put them back,” Holladay said.

Pressure to meet the artistic needs of students in the time allotted has Holladay thinking about teaching part-time next year.

“I’d have time to catch my breath,” she said. “This year has been tough.”