FY2026 SUPERINTENDENT’S RECOMMENDED BUDGET
ACTON-BOXBOROUGH REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT FY26 DEPARTMENT/PROGRAM OVERVIEW
DEPARTMENT:
ADMINISTRATOR:
Visual Arts
Celia Knight: K-6 Liaison Laurie Burns: 7-12 Liaison
ORGANIZATION/PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The ABRSD Visual Arts department is currently a PK-12 department that develops the artistic and creative growth of our student body. The guiding principles of the Acton-Boxborough preK-12 Visual Arts program are the Studio Habits of Mind (Hetland, Winner, et al, Teachers College Press, 2007) and the Teaching for Artistic Behaviors (TAB) curriculum models. In our classrooms: ● The student is the artist ● The classroom is the student’s studio ● The teacher supports the student’s creative vision Students are given direct instruction in a wide variety of media, including drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, fabric, photography, woodworking, and various digital arts. Our goal is to offer a choice-based program that focuses on the students, their interests, and their ideas. Students are encouraged to assume creative control of their art and art-making processes within an environment designed to support individual inquiry and the development of artistic behaviors. In a choice-based classroom, it is the individual student, not the teacher who defines the artwork created. Teachers instead function as facilitators, mentors, instructors, and motivators depending on the observed need, circumstance, and interest of the students. SELECTED FY25 ACCOMPLISHMENTS ● 2024 spring Elementary Family Arts Night celebrations at McT, Gates, & Douglas ● Elementary participation in Youth Art Month @ the Worcester Art Museum ● Elementary participation in the Youth Art Month MAEA state virtual exhibition ● Jr High Empty Bowls Arts night to benefit the Acton Food Pantry ● ABRHS Senior Show at West Acton Villageworks ● Four ABRHS student artists were selected and received MAEA Recognition Awards ● Six ABRHS students received recognition for their artwork in The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
● Industrial Design & Fabrication elective reinstated at the high school ● New Digital Studio Track developed and implemented at the high school ● Lauren Donahue, Teaching for Artistic Behavior, Inc, Secretary ● Melissa Mastrolia, Past President and the MAEA Board of Directors
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