Districts honored for support of arts

4/22/03 -- The school boards of Beaufort County, S.C., and Farmington, Mich., each were presented with the 2003 Award of Excellence for Education in the Arts at the NSBA Annual Conference.

The annual award, sponsored by NSBA and the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network, honors one or more school boards that demonstrate notable support for all four artistic disciplines: visual arts, theater, music, and dance.

The Beaufort County school board, which serves 17,500 students in 24 schools, adopted the arts as one of its five district goals.

All students in prekindergarten through fifth grade must study general music, strings, and the visual arts. Dance, drama, band, and chorus are added at the middle school level and continue into high school.

Students who take at least six arts courses in high school can receive a special "arts diploma."

The Beaufort County school district has formed partnerships with the South Carolina Arts Commission, the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, the Island School Council for the Arts, and other groups.

The district sponsors about 50 arts education residencies each year, featuring painters, sculptors, writers, storytellers, performers, and artists.

The district supports extensive professional development opportunities for teachers through these partnerships and has been an active participant in the Kennedy Center's Partners in Education Programs since 1992.

Farmington Public Schools, serving more than 12,000 students in 27 schools, requires weekly instruction in general music and art through the fifth grade. Eighty percent of all fifth graders study instrumental music.

Art and general music is required for sixth and seventh graders, and more than half of these students take band, orchestra, or choir.

More than 20 percent of high school students are in a performing ensemble. The district offers four high school dance classes, as well as acting and technical theater.

All Farmington high school students must complete a minimum of one fine arts class as part of the district's graduation requirements.

Community partnerships include guest clinics with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, ongoing partnerships with more than 60 local businesses where framed student artwork is displayed, and collaborations with the Farmington Community Arts Council.

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Reproduced with permission from the Apr. 22, 2003, issue of School Board News. Copyright © 2003, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789.