SOFA

SOFA is pleased to advise that a number of key recommendations from the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) Fine Arts Task Force have been approved by all the Superintendents.

As you may recall from an earlier posting, Cathy Faber (Superintendent of Learning Innovation) formed a Fine Arts Task Force within the Board late last year to review, “… the philosophy and direction of Fine Arts Education in Alberta with specific focus on the implications and management of the Instrumental Music Program from Kindergarten to Grade 12 within the Calgary Board of Education (CBE).”

With input from a number of key stakeholders including two SOFA executive committee members  (Lyle Bennett, and Sam Gregory), the task force came up with four recommendations for CBE Superintendents to consider:

• Develop a Standard of Music Instrumentation
• Establishment of an Education Standing Offer (ESO) Process for the Purchasing, Renting, Maintaining and Repairing Instruments
• Implement a Centrally Managed Musical Instrument Inventory System
• Create a full-time Centralized Technical Support Position to help manage the above

On May 16th, 2011, Cathy Faber and members of the task force presented a report outlining the above recommendations to Superintendents at the CBE.  Following a discussion, the report was fully endorsed.

If you are interested in reading an Executive Summary of the above report, please CLICK HERE.  To learn more about the CBE’s Fine Arts Task Force, please visit their website at www.cbefinearts.org.

 We are thrilled with the progress made by the task force and by the acceptance of the above report by the Superintendents.  Further, we look forward to continued dialogue with the CBE on other fine arts education initiatives.