{"id":355033,"date":"2026-07-28T16:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T16:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/355033\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T16:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T16:15:08","slug":"art-and-music-to-return-to-many-small-broward-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/355033\/","title":{"rendered":"Art and music to return to many small Broward schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Art, music and other special classes will be returning to many of Broward\u2019s smaller schools this upcoming school year, Superintendent Howard Hepburn announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Hepburn told the School Board that all 128 district-run elementary schools will get a minimum of three \u201cspecials,\u201d which are typically non-core classes such as art, music and physical education. In the past, the district\u2019s smallest schools have only gotten two. That meant if the schools offered P.E., as most schools do, they could also offer art or music, but not both.<\/p>\n<p>About a quarter of elementary schools offered no music classes last school year, while half lack art, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/2026\/06\/05\/fighting-for-the-arts-the-mission-to-preserve-offer-special-art-and-music-classes-in-broward-schools\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">district data shows.<\/a> Twelve schools offer neither, creating arts deserts at\u00a0schools such as Collins Elementary in Dania Beach, Coral Springs Elementary, Larkdale Elementary in Lauderhill and Dolphin Bay Elementary in Miramar.<\/p>\n<p>Board members said that\u2019s a problem and likely hurt enrollment, as parents chose schools with more offerings and asked Hepburn to find money in the budget to offer these classes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a specific call to action about ensuring every elementary school offered a minimum of three special area classes,\u201d Hepburn told the board. \u201cWe took that call to action because we are a student-first organization. I\u2019m pleased to say that mission was accepted and that mission was accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The news excited School Board members, who urged district staff to let parents know as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe give you a lot of heartache, but everyone needs their sunshine once in a while, and I think this is an amazing thing to hear this morning,\u201d Board member Rebecca Thompson said.<\/p>\n<p>This is a developing story. Check back for more information.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Art, music and other special classes will be returning to many of Broward\u2019s smaller schools this upcoming school&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[113,249,251,250,114,115,109],"class_list":["post-355033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-education","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-news","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355033","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=355033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}