Gary Moskowitz
Students who enroll in visual- and performing-arts classes in the
Glendale Unified School District will notice a few surprises in the
2003-04 school year.
A curriculum study committee, made up of arts department leaders,
have been meeting monthly for more than a year to re-write course
outlines and introduce a few new courses at the middle and high
school level, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Joel Shapiro
said.
Many arts courses in the district had not been changed in about
five years. Revisions are being made to classes in middle and high
school dance, band, choir, music theory, orchestra and theater. The
revisions will be finished by September, Shapiro said.
Treble Choir, a one-year vocal class for students who have alto
and soprano voices, will be added to middle school curriculum,
Shapiro said.
"These are not major changes, but necessary ones," Shapiro said.
"Some courses are those that teachers felt were more appropriate, but
all are being made less generic and more specific."
By revamping the course descriptions, the new visual- and
performing-arts classes will be aligned with state standards. The
classes will also better serve students looking to meet the fine-arts
requirement for University of California and California State
University schools, Shapiro said.
High school curriculum will eventually include more dance classes
and a 12th-grade theater course that will focus on playwriting,
theater management and stage directing.
"I keep a few more kids now," Hoover High School Music Director
Craig Kupka said. "It gives kids the incentive to take a class they
might enjoy more when they know they are going to get that credit
they need [for college]."
Funding for musical instruments, sheet music, choir robes,
costumes and theater equipment will continue to come from school site
budgets, and availability of courses is decided by enrollment,
Shapiro said.
"Everything in high school should be preparing you for what you
are going to do after high school," student school board member Anna
Arutyunyan said. "And for kids not going to college, there are
classes that can prepare them for work right after."
