"Racial tensions rose in the last year as Sacramento County schools witnessed hate crimes against Black students and administrators and burgeoning incidences of youth seeking mental health services in the aftermath of prolonged online learning," per a Department of Homeland Security press release.
So, in response, the department has awarded Sacramento, Calif.,'s NorCal School of the Arts a three-year, $280,000 grant to implement an arts education program that combines theater with social-emotional learning, history, and English language standards in an effort to prevent violence in the classroom.
"What the program does is it gives a vocabulary to our emotions," Andrea Safar, a second-grade teacher at Peter Burnett Elementary, tells CBS Sacramento.
"We have to be taught that."
The program has already been implemented in 280 Title I schools, and the press release notes that 90% of schools in California fail to meet state-mandated arts education requirements.
"We just think arts is important for all students, not just those that can afford it," Michele Hillen-Noufer, executive director of NorCal Arts, tells CBS.
"It may seem like it's artistic, but it goes back to being a mirror of our society." Read the Entire Article
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