 |
|
|
|
|
SUSD receives $39,802 grant to be used for art education
By Leigh Ann Maze
Saratoga Union School District has been awarded a $39,802 grant for arts education, thanks to Cultural Initiatives, a nonprofit group that advocates putting art back into the core curriculum.
In elementary education, reading, writing, and arithmetic have taken the lion's share of the state budget, leaving arts education scrambling for the leftover scraps ... if there are any. Parents and the community have paid for most of the arts education in Saratoga schools since the mid-1980s through the Saratoga Education Foundation, according to superintendent Mary Gardner.
Arts grants, called "greenhouse grants," were awarded to 15 Santa Clara County elementary schools and districts.
"Through these grants we hope to build partnerships with some of the local art providers and ensure that, on a structured basis, students gain experience and participation in the arts," Gardner said. For Saratoga elementary schools, the grants will not only enhance existing programs in music, dance and visual arts, but make possible a performing arts program as well.
The grants are designed to re-sow the seeds of arts, culture and design back into the core curriculum and, over the next five years, make these programs an integral part of elementary education. "It's part of the 'whole person' education," said Kate Cochran of the Cultural Initiatives program. "For years art has been viewed as a frill, but now there is tremendous amount of research showing that art is essential in developing critical reasoning skills in students." Research shows students who are involved in art programs also perform better in academic areas, including SAT scores.
In a random household survey of Santa Clara County residents taken by Cultural Initiatives, 95 percent of the respondents said that arts should be in the core curriculum, and 70 percent were willing to pay more in taxes in order to make it happen. "Here in Silicon Valley we always point out the need to develop creative students as well as students who can handle the three R's," Cochran said. "We see arts as the fourth R."
|
|
|
|
Saratoga, California Since 1955
