Lake County News,California – Konocti Unified awarded $1.6 million grant for elementary music program

Lessen LAKE, Calif. — A key new federal grant is supplying the Konocti Unified College District the methods it requirements to establish a new new music method for elementary learners.

On Dec. 8, at the very last regular university board meeting of the yr, Katherine Wiley, who teaches and serves as band director at Decrease Lake Significant and the Konocti Training Center, gave the trustees the superior information.

Wiley reported the district has obtained a $1.6 million Aid for Arts Training Method grant from the U.S. Division of Education to provide songs again to the elementary educational institutions.

Konocti Unified acquired a single of 27 grants — eight of them presented to sites in California — awarded via the software this 12 months.

“I’m truly thrilled,” said Wiley, now in her seventh yr with the district.

She stated she hopes the effort will create up a method that is serving the district extended soon after she retires. “I nevertheless have 35 several years,” she quipped, introducing, “I’m tremendous stoked.”

In an interview with Lake County Information, Wiley stated she’s unaware of the district ever obtaining such a large arts-similar grant ahead of.

“It’s a very big offer,” Wiley stated.

She said Konocti Unified’s “On-Ramp” grant is to be dispersed to the district in excess of four years. The plan is to have the new new music program completely ready for the begin of the 2022-23 school year.

“There are four most important targets of our grant,” Wiley reported.

She mentioned those people ambitions are to employ a complete-time elementary new music instructor, present teaching and ongoing guidance for up to 32 arts integration specialists, produce an on the net arts education curriculum that elementary faculty teachers can use through the calendar year and bring in community artists to assistance dietary supplement individuals arts integration lessons.

She reported the district has about 2,000 pupils in grades kindergarten by means of seventh grade, with four elementary schools and one arts training magnet university, Konocti Schooling Heart, or KEC.

An chance occurs

Wiley claimed the grant was introduced to the district’s consideration in the spring by Robert Bullwinkel and Kim Morin of Huge Concept Consulting, a agency that can help educational facilities and communities function jointly to provide higher high-quality arts education to their learners, in accordance to the company’s internet site.

Huge Plan Consulting has been working with Konocti Unified for two yrs, and Wiley reported Bullwinkel thought the grant would be a very good fit for the district.

The grant aims to enable rural districts, which serve at-possibility youth, that want to produce a arduous arts application, “Which is all the things we ended up about,” Wiley mentioned.

Wiley reported the software was owing in April, which gave the district a truly short turnaround time. Even so, Bullwinkel did most of the do the job in producing the grant, with district personnel offering the essential information and facts.

They needed to get letters of aid and present info about the university student human body, such as the fact that 36{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} of the district’s pupils fall below the federal poverty line, with 84{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} qualifying for totally free and lessened lunch, Wiley mentioned.

Wiley reported the relaxation of the grant preparation method provided laying out what the application would seem like and what the district’s qualifications for a successful software would be.

They tied the grant to the English language studying normal, as a lot of of the district’s students study under grade stage. Wiley claimed they imagine rigorous arts instruction enhances looking at scores.

Wiley claimed they observed out in mid-October that they had been given the grant. They are now in the setting up method, which Wiley identified as “very interesting.”

The subsequent measures in creating the method include obtaining input from academics, mom and dad and the neighborhood at huge, she said.

The district will host its first informational meeting on the plan from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, in the Carol McClung Meeting Centre at the Konocti Unified College District Place of work, 9430-B Lake St. in Decrease Lake.

Wiley, who is the method supervisor and will be responsible for creating most government selections, explained that as they get started to solidify what the On-Ramp application will glimpse like, the district options to host an extra informational conference and celebration of the arts sometime in late spring.

At that celebration, Wiley reported local community customers will be invited to participate in arts functions when mastering about the possibilities their college students have in the coming school decades.

She explained there isn’t really a date or place set for that function nevertheless, but it will be held someday in the night to enable a lot more local community users to go to.

“After that, we’ll be looking for volunteers to provide on the steering committee,” Wiley reported. “We want that to be a assortment of instructors, assistance team, administrators and group associates.”

Wiley mentioned that the steering committee will consist of about 10 people today who will serve in the course of the size of the grant, be the feed-back team, brainstorm thoughts, be proactive problem solvers and “really make positive this thing takes off.”

She extra, “They’re the foundation.”

Wiley claimed district Superintendent Becky Salato will have a role in earning positive every thing is working effortlessly.

Developing a new program

The music system the district is making will emphasis on the elementary grades for the reason that, amongst KEC and the high faculty, “We have a pretty vivid arts schooling program,” reported Wiley.

KEC is superb for center university degree pupils and the substantial school has a extensive wide variety of lessons, she explained.

Part of the drive for the grant is that Wiley said academics seen inventive students coming into higher college who had been missing foundational skills.

As an case in point, she mentioned they have been seeing tunes college students who haven’t observed a quarter take note and never know what it’s called.

Like lots of university districts, Konocti Unified was impacted by the money impacts of the Good Recession, Wiley reported.

“We had a quite strong elementary music plan right before the recession,” she stated. Then, when cuts to staffing transpired, the elementary tunes teacher placement inevitably went away.

A few of years in the past the district attempted to have an elementary school audio place once again but it didn’t carry on right after the very first two a long time, Wiley mentioned.

Wiley claimed a great deal of that had to do with how the energy was rolled out, with that teacher envisioned to provide all 4 elementary faculties at the very same time and only receiving the probability to see pupils as soon as each individual other 7 days. “It was a quite tricky undertaking that the individual was requested to do.”

The new tunes trainer situation the district needs to create will divide their time involving Burns Valley and Lessen Lake Elementary, and also will emphasis on forming associations, Wiley reported.

She explained that posture is to be funded in element by the grant for the to start with number of yrs, with a motivation from the district to pay back the foundation income when the grant is finished.

There also will be an arts integration component. Wiley stated they can train audio, visual and drama benchmarks whilst even now carrying out what is deemed a additional conventional curriculum. “How to do that however is a tiny challenging,” and not a lot of academics have that arts integration history.

So the enhancement of 32 arts integration experts will consider spot over the summer season. Members in the plan — which Wiley mentioned will be for current teachers and volunteers — will discover how to combine the arts with other topics in a significant way. There also will be a person on website to help teachers in artwork integration.

In envisioning a productive software, Wiley reported they want each individual pupil to enjoy it, and for pupils moving into center faculty to know what they are passionate about and what they want to pursue for electives each at the center and high faculty concentrations.

She reported they want to persuade literacy, and see college students studying and comprehending at better degrees. They feel that arts integration will assistance pupils that experience divided from materials to experience related once again.

They want to see standardized tests scores increase together with a sizeable increase in college students reading at or over grade degree, she said.

Wiley explained they also want the local community to feel additional welcome at faculty internet sites by placing on performances and reveals of college student art operate on a normal basis.

She stated most of the parts of the program should really be together by August, in time for the university yr to start. By that place she expects the elementary tunes instructor ought to be hired.

Neighborhood members are invited to the Jan. 13 meeting to understand far more about the software and how to get concerned.

Electronic mail Elizabeth Larson at This e mail tackle is getting protected from spambots. You require JavaScript enabled to see it.. Stick to her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County Information, @LakeCoNews.