{"id":297219,"date":"2026-06-05T14:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T14:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/297219\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T14:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T14:15:08","slug":"push-on-to-preserve-offer-art-and-music-classes-in-broward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/297219\/","title":{"rendered":"Push on to preserve, offer art and music classes in Broward"},"content":{"rendered":"

The arts thrive at North Andrews Elementary School of the Arts in Oakland Park, where students can experience theater, a band, an orchestra, a show choir and visual arts classes.<\/p>\n

But at Collins Elementary, a small school in Dania Beach, students don\u2019t attend any classes specifically focused on art or music.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a disparity that has frustrated many parents and School Board members. About a quarter of elementary schools offer no music classes, while half lack art, district data shows. Twelve schools, including Collins, offer neither. And it\u2019s a problem that could get worse as enrollments continue to decline, officials say.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents are furious,\u201d said Cynthia Dominique, an elementary school parent who chairs the District Advisory Council, a group that makes recommendations to the School Board. \u201cParents believe that those specials are just as important as reading, writing and math. They help to make a well-rounded child. They help to keep kids, you know, engaged and excited to go to school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, some School Board members say they want Superintendent Howard Hepburn to see if there\u2019s a way to assist these schools that could be considered arts deserts, including Collins, Coral Springs Elementary, Larkdale Elementary in Lauderhill and Dolphin Bay Elementary in Miramar.<\/p>\n

Board members say it\u2019s also important for students to partake in other special classes, including library time, which is not offered in a quarter of schools, and physical education, which is missing from about 11% of schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we create an option for moving to guaranteed music, art and PE, which I believe parents believe is a fundamental part of elementary education?\u201d Board member Allen Zeman asked at a May 19 meeting. \u201cAnd it would drive people to reconsider and to rethink Broward County elementary schools if we had that everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"YuliiaYuliia Shakas plays flute in advanced band class at North Andrews Gardens Elementary School of the Arts in Fort Lauderdale on May 28. (Amy Beth Bennett \/ South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Hepburn told the South Florida Sun Sentinel he\u2019s reviewing the request and plans to bring proposals back to the School Board this summer. The School Board has been in the midst of about $80 million in budget cutting due to enrollment declines but he wants to see if some of those savings could free up money for more specials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re measuring our cost savings to see if we can prioritize that for the upcoming school year,\u201d Hepburn said this week. \u201cMy team and I are working on that as we speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hepburn said a major factor affecting special classes is the size of the school. Larger schools generally get to offer more specials than smaller schools. The 1,100-student Gator Run Elementary in Weston has art, music and three other specials. Collins, which has 261 students, only has two specials, P.E. and a class that focuses on a variety of subject matters. As enrollment declines at most schools, they become vulnerable to losing some special classes, officials say.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one reason school district officials say they are in the process of closing and consolidating schools. One school closed last year, six closed this year, and Hepburn said 10 or more could close next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have more students and higher capacity use at a school, it garners more funding, and it provides the opportunity for students to have a plethora of programming that\u2019s usually not afforded to an underenrolled school due to the low number of students and the lower amount of funding that they\u2019re actually garnering,\u201d Hepburn said.<\/p>\n

Hepburn also said some schools have special themes or programs that they offer instead of music or arts.<\/p>\n

\"StudentsStudents rehearse in Shirley Callandret\u2019s show choir class at North Andrews Gardens Elementary School of the Arts in Fort Lauderdale on May 28. (Amy Beth Bennett \/ South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

For example, Lloyd Estates Elementary in Oakland Park has no art class, but offers special classes focusing on music, Spanish and science, technology, engineering and math, collectively known as STEM.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of those schools have four, five, or some even have six specials,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a choice by the principal, their staff, students and communities about what type of specials they want on their campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lisa Maxwell, executive director of the Broward Principals and Assistants Association, disputes the suggestion that principals are prioritizing other programs over music and arts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny principal will tell you that by far, their wish would be to provide all of that,\u201d Maxwell said. \u201cPrincipals are sitting in budget meetings, and they\u2019re told we\u2019re cutting this, this and this, and here\u2019s your allocation of staff. It\u2019s all driven by the staffing allocation models that came out of the budget office, so there really isn\u2019t any leeway.\u201d<\/p>\n

School Board member Rebecca Thompson said at the May 19 meeting that school leaders should communicate the factors affecting how many specials a school gets and which ones are offered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m hearing parents say is board did this. The board hates art. The board hates music,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n

Hepburn responded, \u201cIt\u2019s easy for anybody to say this, but that\u2019s not been the process. There\u2019s been a budget process, and the principals are aware of the changes in their budget. It has nothing to do with the board. It has everything to do with our enrollment numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents who want more exposure to art and music do have options if their neighborhood school doesn\u2019t offer them. Four elementary schools have magnet programs focusing on the visual and performing arts: North Andrews Gardens, Deerfield Park in Deerfield Beach, Marty M. Bethune in Hollywood and Walker Elementary in Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

\"JimenaJimena Realegeno Lara draws during visual arts class at North Andrews Gardens Elementary School of the Arts in Fort Lauderdale on May 28. (Amy Beth Bennett \/ South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

At North Andrews Gardens, about 40% of the 700 students live outside the district\u2019s neighborhood boundary, district data shows.<\/p>\n

Principal Catrice Duhart said students in the early grades get exposure to all five arts areas offered: theater, orchestra, band, show choir visual arts. They choose one area to focus on when they reach the third grade.<\/p>\n

She said they put on three major performances a year, where the work of students in all arts areas is showcased.<\/p>\n

Teachers at North Andrews Gardens see the arts as an integral part of learning\u00a0at her school.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic and math are very related,\u201d orchestra teacher Felix Cuza told the Sun Sentinel. \u201cWhen they play an instrument, they are using critical thinking and they get discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n

The visual arts have been shown to help raise test scores, art teacher Ollie Pottmeyer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey use higher-level thinking, and they\u2019re able to concentrate and think for themselves and come up with their own ideas and own answers to things,\u201d he said.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The arts thrive at North Andrews Elementary School of the Arts in Oakland Park, where students can experience…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250,108],"class_list":["post-297219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}