Plum honored for music education

Plum Borough School District’s music department continues to rack up awards.

For the fifth consecutive year, Plum has received the Best Communities for Music Education designation from the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation.

“The music staff is pleased to be part of a community where music and the visual arts are so revered,” John DeLuce, the district’s fine arts department leader and high school choral music director, said in a press release.

The designation goes to school districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students. Schools had to respond to questions in regard to funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and community music-making programs.

“The fine arts department has recently gone through a curriculum review cycle,” DeLuce said “The team was tasked with examining our curriculum and determining which adjustments and tools were needed to provide the students of Plum with an exceptional experience in arts education.”

He thanked members of the school board and district administration for their encouragement throughout the process.

“This board is fully committed to the proposition that music education is critical to the development of well-rounded students,” Mike Devine, Plum Borough School Board president, said in the release. “Therefore, we will continue to support the fine arts program in both words and actions.”

Each school district’s response was sent to the University of Kansas’ Music Research Institute. The designation has been awarded for the past 24 years.

Since 2015, the passage of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act has led to schools re-committing to their music programs. ESSA provides designated funding for well-rounded educational opportunities through Student Academic Success and Achievement grants.

National Association of Music Merchants Foundation research has revealed that these grants are being widely used by school districts to address instructional gaps in access to music and arts education, according to the release.