South Bay Schools Get New Arts Advocates
By Russ Sperling
District Director of Visual and Performing Arts
Behind every successful musician or artist, is a promoter who believed in them. Now, South Bay students have a group of committed arts enthusiasts determined to be their champions.
The newly formed South Bay Alliance for Arts Education (SBAAE) came into being this spring, led by retired Sweetwater District music teacher Ron Bolles. This group will serve to highlight why arts education is important for all of our South Bay K-12 students. SBAAE will look for resources at all levels and areas to strengthen existing programs and advocate for new ones.
SBAAE was formed following a California Alliance for Arts Education (CAAE) breakfast that I co-hosted with Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox. We brought together leaders of arts organizations, churches, school principals and district personnel listened to talk about the benefits and importance of the arts in education.
The group includes community members such as Jerry Rindone and Dency Souval, arts providers like Young Audiences and school teachers such as Beverly Norris and Bruce Groff and administrators such as Toni Allen and Clint Taylor. We are very excited about being a strong voice in our community to advocate for the value that visual and performing arts bring to the development of our children.
Our mission aligns with the State Board of Education vision for arts education which states:
"The arts convey knowledge and meaning not learned through the study of other subjects...Arts education offers students the opportunity to envision, set goals, determine a method to reach a goal and try it out, identify alternatives, evaluate, revise, solve problems, imagine, work collaboratively, and apply self-discipline. As they study and create in the arts, students use the potential of the human mind to its full and unique capacity. The visual and performing arts are a vital part of a well-rounded educational program for all students".
In 2001, the State Board of Education adopted new K-12 standards for dance, theatre, music and visual arts classes. The curriculum standards outline the skills, knowledge, and abilities that all students in these classes should be able to master at specific grade levels, prekindergarten through grade twelve, in California public schools.
But the reality in California is that these Ed Codes are implemented very differently depending where you are. For instance, many of our entering 7th graders have not had access to sequential standards-based arts instruction.
Through the new consortium, we would like to change that for the South Bay students.
We seek to meet the benchmarks set out on the state standards and encourage the professional development for teachers for the benefit of our students. If you are interested in serving on the SBAAE committee, please contact me at
russ.sperling@sweetwaterschools.org
Below are some links where you can find out more:
California State VAPA Standards
Sweetwater Union High School District VAPA Curriculum
California Alliance for Arts Education
Comments
We welcome your comments as a means of sharing your own experiences, suggesting improvements or chiming in on the conversation. To keep communication, we have set some comment guidelines.
1. Comments will not be edited, but will be reviewed by the Grants and Communications Department before being posted.
2. To ensure exchanges that are informative, respectful of diverse viewpoints and lawful, we will NOT post comments that are: Off Topic. We will exclude comments not related to the subject. Spam. Comments focused on selling a product or service will not be posted. Personal Attacks. If you disagree with a post, we'd like to hear from you. We do ask that you refrain from personal attacks or being disrespectful of others. Illegal. Laws that govern use of copyrights, trade secrets, etc., will be followed. Language. Comments including but not limited to: profane or provocative language, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive or derogatory content, threats, obscene or sexually explicit language will be excluded.