Anne Arundel students interested in the performing and visual arts can participate in the county?s first arts magnet program.
The program will start the fall of the 2009-10 school year at Bates Middle School in Annapolis and is expected to draw 300 students in sixth through eighth grades from across the county, school officials said.
“When we put a magnet together, we?re able to target funds for something amazing to happen,” said Lynn Whittington, the school system?s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
The magnet program also is expected to attract students who are in private and parochial schools, said School Board Member Eugene Peterson.
More than 40 percent of all students in the Annapolis cluster attend private schools, said Anne Arundel Councilman Josh Cohen, D-District 6, who represents the Annapolis area.
“It?ll really strengthen the overall appeal of public schools in Annapolis,” Cohen said. “And that?s key if we?re going to sustain an economically diverse student population on a long-term basis.”
Program features are being discussed, but students will experience intensive course work, take arts-integrated academic coursesand participate in community performance and research opportunities, Whittington said.
The school system will begin planning for the magnet in the next six to 12 months and is expected use about $250,000 in funds, said Alex Szachnowicz, the school system?s chief facility officer.
In addition, school officials will determine if Bates Middle requires any changes to accommodate the program and how the Maryland Hall for the Performing Arts building, which is next to the school, can be used with the program, he said.
The Anne Arundel School Board approved the program this week.
BY THE NUMBERS
Estimates of the startup costs involved in the magnet program total $1.4 million, including:
? $209,125 for technology like audio enhancement systems
? $203,500 for equipment like potter wheels and musical instruments
? $84,500 for instructional materials like textbooks and music recordings
? $96,400 for summer bridge, co-curricular and after-school support
? $53,300 for professional development for arts magnet teachers
? $324,000 for transportation
? $300,000 for staff members
? $104,000 for events, planning and field trips
Source: Anne Arundel County Public Schools
