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La Porte fine arts programs report strong enrollment, awards and community performances; district recognized by national music association
Summary
District fine-arts leaders reported strong participation across band, choir, orchestra, theater, dance and visual arts, numerous awards and community performances; La Porte ISD received the NAMM Best Communities in Music Education recognition for the fifth time.
Dr. Burke, La Porte ISD fine-arts director, presented a year-end fine-arts update to the board on May 13 highlighting enrollment, competitive results and community performances across music, theater, dance and visual arts.
Enrollment figures presented covered secondary performing-visual-arts participation and elementary music programs. Dr. Burke said performing-visual-arts participation at the secondary level includes several hundred students in each area — the presentation cited roughly 944 students in art (grades 6–12), about 628 in band, roughly 490 in theater, about 430 in orchestra, about 403 in choir and approximately 151 in dance (figures presented as program enrollments across grades 6–12). Dr. Burke also noted that 72 percent (spoken as a majority) of secondary students participate in performing or visual arts and that all elementary students receive music instruction weekly.
The update listed competitive and adjudicated accomplishments: UIL marching band region honors and area finalist placement, indoor drumline and winter guard placements, a sweepstakes result at a junior-high band festival, TMEA regional and area qualifiers, state-level percussion placement and multiple UIL concert and sight-reading Division I (sweepstakes) awards across campuses. The high school theater production reached district-level success in UIL one-act play and generated student honors and technician awards. In visual arts, dozens of elementary through high-school students advanced as finalists in the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Art Competition; LPHS student art will appear in a statewide anthology, the presentation said.
Dr. Burke also described community engagements (performances at the Sylvan Beach Parade, Moody Gardens Festival of Lights, Houston Astros national-anthem performances, Gatorfest and other civic events) and noted that the district was named one of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Best Communities in Music Education for the fifth time.
Board members praised teachers and staff for the programs’ academic and extracurricular contributions. Dr. Burke closed by thanking fine-arts staff and listing upcoming performances and summer camps. No formal action was taken on fine-arts items at the meeting.
