November 28 PLC Meeting

Our group diverted from our normal PLC topic of discussion of IPI data and held a very meaningful discussion about the meeting Ronda is having with Department of Education Director, Dr. Jason Glass, and other arts educators this afternoon in Des Moines.

We discussed things like the economic development that the arts can (and do) bring to the state, as well as how even more of an emphasis on the arts (beginning at PreK on up) could foster even more economic development. Studies have shown that when businesses look to relocate or open in a new area, they will often first look at a family friendly community with a strong arts base, such as community theater, band or arts center, as well as strong arts programs within it's schools. (On a related, but side note...We talked about a number of the previous graduating valedictorians and salutatorians and noted that nearly all of them were a leader in one of the arts areas in our school.)