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Rockville Centre arts director recommends new courses, scheduling changes and expanded inclusive programming
Summary
Katie Mark, the district's director of arts, presented a curriculum review and a package of recommendations including new courses (Unified Theatre, IB Dance, Intro to Fashion Design), a shift to grade-level middle school ensembles, small-group lessons for chorus, and a plan to run the proposals without added cost next year.
Katie Mark, director of the arts for the Rockville Centre Union Free School District, presented a curriculum review to the Board of Education on March 13, outlining program strengths and a set of recommendations to expand arts access and alignment across grade levels.
Mark said the review drew on feedback from teachers, students, parents and alumni and produced a vision to "cultivate creative, empathetic and informed citizens through a comprehensive arts education." She recommended several course additions for next school year — Unified Theatre, IB Dance and Intro to Fashion Design — and urged fuller participation in the International Baccalaureate (IB) model’s six-subject program so that arts study remain a consistent component of an IB diploma.
Mark proposed structural changes at the middle-school level: combine smaller elective ensembles into single grade-level ensembles (she estimated a single combined ensemble would grow from about 40 to roughly 75 members) and shift the middle-school theater production from May to February. She argued that larger grade-level ensembles increase repertoire options, provide stability across student choices and, she said, improve retention into high school. She also recommended instituting small-group instrumental and choral lessons for grades 6–8 and expanding instrumental lessons to RISE (special education) students.
Mark identified access for students with disabilities as a cross-cutting concern and said many students’ connection to school is through the arts. She said teachers requested dedicated planning time and arts-focused professional development; the district has begun targeted training this year and planned another session in April on inclusive language and practices.
On budget impacts, Mark told the board that "for all of the recommendations that I'm proposing next year, everything can be done with the existing staff we have. There would be no increase in costs." Board members pressed for additional detail on retention, scheduling and how expanded offerings would be communicated to families; Mark described outreach through departmental social media, collaborations with the public library for the high-school musical and targeted recruiting in middle schools.
Board members praised the inclusivity of the plan and asked for further follow-up on arts staffing, enrollment projections for new classes and potential pilot programs. Several trustees highlighted the district’s recent student recognitions in music, visual arts and writing as evidence of the program’s strength.
The presentation ended with questions about maintaining extracurricular continuity for students (for example, keeping students engaged in theater before and after the consolidated production) and with board members urging continued attention to communicating options to families as course enrollments are finalized.
