04/13/04 -- The school boards of the Cobre Consolidated School District in Bayard, N.M., and Sarasota County, Fla., each received the 2004 Award for Outstanding Support and Commitment to the Arts in Education March 30 at the NSBA Conference.
The annual award is sponsored by NSBA and the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network.
The Cobre school board, which serves 1,600 students in six schools, provides strong financial support for the arts, allocating 6.8 percent of its total instructional budget to arts education. [The Cobre school district is a National Affiliate of NSBA.]
The fine arts program is integrated into the district's curriculum and instruction and is aligned with the New Mexico Content Standards with Benchmarks. At the elementary level, all students study art and music each week. Physical education includes instruction in dance, and drama is integrated into language arts.
Middle and high school students study art, music, drama, guitar, band, chorus, piano, mariachi, and ballet folklorico. On any given day, approximately half of the high school's 514 students are involved in arts classes.
Even though the Cobre school district is in a poor area, the school board was able to obtain community support for building the Cobre Performing Arts Center. Students, community artists, and touring groups perform at the center.
The board supports the district's efforts to include arts education for all children, says school board President Corina Rivera. "The board realizes that the arts stimulate social, emotional, and intellectual growth for academic success as well as self-awareness and self-esteem."
The Sarasota County school board, serving more than 39,000 students in 35 schools, showed its commitment to arts education by adding 23 faculty positions in the arts this year.
The district offers instruction in dance, instrumental and vocal music, theater, visual arts, and TV/media.
All elementary and middle school students are required to learn music and art and have additional opportunities to study dance and drama.
High schools students are required to take one-half credit of visual or performing arts to meet state graduation requirements. Every school offers drawing, painting, ceramics/pottery, band, chorus, and drama/ theater. Other arts electives are offered at various schools.
Booker High School attracts students from across the county to its arts program. Riverview High School's music program has been among four music demonstration high schools in Florida for nine years.
Venice High School's graphics arts academy works in partnership with the Ringling School of Art and Design, and North Port High School features an academy on careers in arts and communication created in partnership with the city of North Port.
The Sarasota school board and the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall have been part of the Kennedy Center Partners in Education Program since 1997.
The school board also developed the Community/Schools Partnership for the Arts to connect resources in the area's cultural community to the district's curriculum.