ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – All elementary students within Albuquerque Public Schools now have the option to take art and music every school year. This is a culmination of a plan since 2018 to provide access to all fine arts within elementary schools.
Up until this year, most elementary schools would offer music class one year, then art class the next year, but never both at the same time. “A fourth grader had music in 4th grade, and then the next year they had art. By the time they go to middle school, they’ve kind of forgotten about music, so they are not enrolling in our music classes in middle school,” said Gina Rasinski, APS executive director of fine arts.
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Rasinski said the recent change is due to an increase in budget and staff to enable roughly 20 more schools a year to start offering both courses every year. “Students don’t have to wonder, ‘Oh, am I having art or music this year?’ So that sense of consistency and pride being to know as a school system that we offer this to students I think builds upon APS in general,” Rasinski explained.