Advocacy and Music Education Supports

We strongly encourage all teachers to contact their building and district administrators now.  State leaders, superintendents, and administrators are currently looking at options and scenarios for re-opening our schools this fall and how that might impact all aspects of student learning, including music education.  Music teachers need to be a part of these dialogues and decisions.  Music is an essential part of our students’ academic and social-emotional learning and we cannot be left out of these conversations.  As the music education expert in your building and district, we strongly encourage you to reach out to your leadership, be involved, and advocate for your students, your music colleagues, and yourself.  Start thinking now of how you might be able to re-structure your curriculum, classroom, and ensembles if needed, other music courses you can offer, and how music instruction might look in different situations, how you might use chamber ensembles, etc.  Remind your administrators that music is part of a well-rounded education, as defined at the federal level by the Every Student Succeeds Act.  Here are a number of resources for you:

OMEA Advocacy Website

• OMEA Position Statement on Music Education and the Reopening of Oregon's Schools

• NAfME & NFHS collaborative guidance for PreK-12 schools for Fall 2020

• National Association for Music Education www.nafme.org

  • COVID-19 Resources https://nafme.org/covid-19/

  • Advocacy https://nafme.org/advocacy/grassroots-action-center/

  • Virtual Learning Resources https://nafme.org/my-classroom/virtual-learning-resources-for-music-educators/

  • Every Student Succeeds Act https://nafme.org/advocacy/essa/

  • Amplify (NAfME community chat and discussions) https://community.nafme.org/home

• National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Music Directors & Adjudicators https://www.nfhs.org/activities-sports/music/

  • Articles on Performing Arts COVID-19 Guidance, COVID-19 Instrument Cleaning, Online Learning, Publishers Allowing Educational Use of Copyrighted Music, etc.

• American Choral Directors Association www.acda.org

  • Resource for Choral Professionals During the Pandemic https://acda.org/resources-for-choral-professionals-during-a-pandemic/

  • ChoralNet (ACDA’s community chat and discussions) www.choralnet.org  

• OMEA Advocacy Committee https://sites.google.com/pps.net/omea-advocacy/home

  • If you find yourself needing more assistance, contact Andie Andeen or Laura Arthur, our OMEA Advocacy Committee Co-Chairs.  [email protected]

  • Andie Andeen [email protected]

  • Laura Arthur [email protected]