For the fourth year in a row, the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation has honored Westport for music education, school officials announced today.
Westport joins 476 districts across the country in receiving this year’s Best Communities Music Education award.
“We are so fortunate to live in a town that recognizes and values the importance of the arts in education,” said Thomas Scavone, Westport’s supervisor of music education.
“It is gratifying that our community sees the arts as an educational requisite for a balanced, well-educated student.
“Our dedicated staff and the students they nurture truly believe that the arts are what make life worth living,” he added. “We operate on that premise every day of the year.”
According to NAMM, the designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students.
“That commitment has been part of Westport’s educational vision for more than 75 years,” said Scavone.
He said that districts that have been recognized by the NAMM Foundation are often held up as models for other educators looking to elevate their own music education programs.
In order to qualify, Westport educators had to answer detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and community music-making programs, officials said.
Responses were verified with school officials and reviewed by the Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.
School officials say the award also recognizes that Westport is leading the way with learning opportunities as outlined in the new federal education legislation, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
The legislation, signed into law in December 2015, replaces No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and it recommends music and the arts as important elements in a well-rounded education for all children.
