When I heard that this issue of Education Update would be focusing on arts in education, I was so proud. This past spring, Syosset Schools received two national awards in recognition of our arts in education programs. The Magna Award was given us by the National School Boards Association, and the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Award of Excellence named our district as the number one in the country for arts education.

The award committees gave us numerous reasons why we were chosen for the awards. They cited many examples of the program opportunities we provide for our students, but they all have two factors in common: One, the arts are integrated into all facets of student curriculum, in every grade, in every possible way. Two, we teach our students by helping them to appreciate the finest art and music and to experience them in a firsthand learning environment.

Over the past five or so years, we have developed partnerships with a number of fine cultural institutions in New York City. Our high school students learn opera from the same coaches who train the singers at the

Metropolitan and then they perform on stage with these talented singers.

Our middle school students enter the witty world of Gilbert and Sullivan through a partnership with the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, and also perform on stage in a full-scale production with the professionals.

Elementary, middle school, and high school students learn about art through visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. What makes these visits unique is that their own teachers receive training from museum educators on how to use the art they will see in the museums in lessons that are integrated into their classroom curriculum.

It has been said that art is not just a part of life, but that art is what makes life worth living. It is our mission to give our students a lifelong appreciation of the arts so that they may enrich their own lives in many ways.

We have been very fortunate to have an extremely supportive Board of Education—the best in the country—and community of parents who also understand the important role that the arts play in providing a full education to our students. In addition, in all of our district’s ten schools, we have had the complete cooperation of administrators, faculty members, and staff. Together, we have made the arts—music, theater, visual arts, dance, video—an integral part of the student’s curriculum, and we have all benefited from this.

The question is not how much arts education should we provide for our students, but how much arts education CAN we provide for our students?

In Syosset, we have found that our students will embrace every opportunity to learn and experience fine quality arts and cultural programs. This should be a priority for all schools.#