Upper Darby School District’s Education and Pupil Services Committee reviewed a proposal to adopt four online resources for art and music instruction that, if approved later by the full board, would begin implementation in the 2025–26 school year. Dr. Kelly introduced the item and turned the presentation over to Cinto, the district supervisor for art, music and theater, who described the recommended materials and related professional development plans.
The recommended resources are the Lehi curriculum from the Art of Education University; Essential Elements Music Classroom; Sibelius music notation software; and SmartMusic (MakeMusic). "We continually look to improve classroom instruction and specifically work to infuse technology into the curriculum," Cinto said during his summary of the selection process.
The nut graf: The materials are intended to provide searchable, standards‑aligned lesson content for elementary art and music teachers and tech‑enabled practice and notation tools for instrumental programs; the district plans a multi‑layered professional development rollout and estimates roughly $10,000 in annual spending for the four subscriptions combined.
Cinto said the Lehi curriculum and Essential Elements would supply standards‑based reference materials, anchor charts, worksheets, videos, composer bios, assessments and planning materials for grades 1–5 and allow teachers to cross‑reference lessons to other subjects such as math and English language arts. Sibelius is described as notation software to produce custom instrumental or vocal parts and accommodate varied ensemble instrumentation; SmartMusic is an interactive play‑along program that teachers can slow down, isolate sections and use for small‑group instruction.
Dr. Kelly and Cinto outlined a professional development plan that includes district‑level in‑person training at the start of the school year, summer or August training time at the district level, building/department‑level Schoology courses and Google Workspace collaboration, and vendor or resource‑provided online tutorials. Cinto noted that all four tools can be integrated with the district’s Clear Touch boards.
On cost, Cinto said the combined annualized expense is about $10,000; the Lehi (flex) curriculum is a five‑year subscription, and he reported the figure as a prorated annual cost. When asked whether the resources include classroom recording functions, staff replied that the presented resources do not include in‑class multitrack recording; Essential Elements offers a NoteFlight subscription for student composition, and the district already has electives and tools (for example, GarageBand in middle school electives) that allow student recording.
The committee did not take a final adoption vote at the meeting; the item was listed as board action and was among several items the committee agreed to send for consideration at the March legislative board meeting. The presentation materials and ARs were uploaded to BoardDocs as part of the public record, per district policy 109 on selection of resource materials.