Music program earns national accolades

The East Meadow School District’s musical program, under the direction of Abby Behr, was recently listed among the NAMM Foundation’s “Best Communities for Music Education” in America. Pictured above, hundreds of student-musicians performed at the annual District Music Festival at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts last winter.

Courtesy the East Meadow School District

The East Meadow School District was named by the NAMM Foundation in March as one of the nation’s most exemplary districts for musical education. NAMM, a nonprofit supported by the National Association of Music Merchants, selected 376 districts as 2014’s Best Communities for Music Education. East Meadow was selected among a field of more than 2,000 schools and districts.

The program selects districts based on funding, staff, commitment to standards, and access to music instruction. The NAMM Foundation, with the assistance of researchers at the Institute for Educational Research and Public Service in Kansas evaluates participants on these factors.

Abby Behr, the East Meadow School District’s director of music and art, said the district has earned this distinction each year since 2009. “I think we offer one of the best, well-rounded music programs in the country,” she said. “That’s due in large part to the absolutely fantastic music faculty that we have here in East Meadow.”

The district’s music program is no stranger to accolades. Behr said they are the only program in the state to have been recognized twice as a recipient of the New York State School Music Association’s Presidential Citation Award.

Additionally, the district was recently named as one of 12 model music education programs in the country by the National Association for Musical Education.

The musical program is so renowned that Behr said music educators have been known to move into the East Meadow School District so their children can be part of it. “I don’t think you can find a better group of music educators and practicing musicians anywhere,” she said of the district’s faculty.

In a press release, the NAMM Foundation said that commitment to music is becoming more difficult as school districts face increasingly challenging budget restrictions. “These schools and districts make a strong commitment to music education in the core curriculum supporting its essential value to a well-rounded education for every child,” said Mary Luehrsen, NAMM Foundation executive director. “Strong, engaging programs that offer students access to music cannot thrive in a vacuum. The Best Communities designation ... brings hard-won visibility to music classes, programs and departments that are keeping music education alive in our schools.”