CONGRATS Indianola K-8 Unified Arts Team! Our pleas were heard!

The arts teach our students many lessons that other subjects cannot. They teach students that there is more than one solution to a problem and that it is ok to make mistakes, it is how we handle those mistakes that really matters. They teach many more lessons than that and they are extremely important to having a well rounded education.

This move is counter to all studies that prove arts curriculum is essential to student development.

Unified Arts is the CORE of the curriculum. It is imperative to keep it so. Please do not deny our children this extremely important part of their Indianola education.

arts are not optional.

This is important.

There is much research to show the value of arts in education. Students need MORE arts in their curriculum, not less. Look at the results of the Sphinx program in Detroit and Flint, MI. Look at the value and results of the El Sistema program in Venezuela - and now places in the U.S. Look at the value and results of the music education program in Hungary. Exemplary music programs have the ability to engage both sides of the brain and touch people's souls - creating a society that thinks, feels and values.

My town, my kids, my love. Please!

Our district needs to support programs that are successful. If cuts are needed, make them to programs that aren't getting positive results for our children.

I went to Indianola many years ago and can say with no uncertainty that it made me, and many of my friends, believe that art is AS IMPORTANT as any other field of study. Do not cut arts teaching from the school. Add arts curriculum to the OTHER schools!

As a former teacher at Indianola, I have first hand knowledge of how valuable their arts program is to the students they serve. Taking or decreasing that service in anyway is a tragedy!

The arts are a critical, meaningful and enriching aspect of our schools program and a key to its success over the years.

I personally went to this school during the 90s & had Marlene, Sharon, and Jim as teachers. They are wonderful people who taught me how to express emotion and release feelings using alternative outlets. The way they use art integrated with education is successful as well; I personally remember learning about things such as mythology, slavery in the U.S, foreign cultures, memorable artists, etc. from them through their classes. And I was only in elementary school! Children need to learn these things, and there's no better way to learn it in a way you know children will enjoy.

The Unified Arts Team is a critical part of the Indianola Informal philosophy. To remove them would be to fundamentally change the focus and consistent success of this alternative school. Please maintain full time arts staff in this school and expand the arts education in all schools. We know that the arts are key in both engaging kids in school and supporting their academic achievement.

I chose to send my children to Indianola not only because of the strong community, but also because art is such an integral part of learning. I believe the community is what it is because of it. Please do not take away from the great people who have built the foundation for such an excellent learning environment. Instead, I urge you to look at the impact the arts program here has had and consider investing in other schools in a similar way. Bring other schools up to this great standard, do not bring this school down. We live in Columbus, Ohio where the community as a whole thrives in arts!

Art is essential to forming the well-rounded individual. Please keep it in place!

All forms of art reaches all ages of children - especially at Indianola K-8. It wonderful to see Indianola students to express themselves in art - whether is it music, dance or art classes. Art is a way for those children that need a outlet to express their feelings and emotions. For example, a child may lose a special member of their family.. they are unable to put those feelings in words. Let the child use all the forms of art to express their feelings. Please keep the unified arts program at Indianola K-8.

Arts are essential. Some kids can only make sense of the world through creativity. Arts should be top of the list in every school.

We NEED the arts every day at Indianola. It's a giant piece of the Indianola puzzle, and what helps our kids to learn in other aspects of their school day.

Art is emotion made manifest. It's the language of the heart. We need our children to have those things, we've already left them with a lot of problems to solve when they grow up, let's not also take away their best tools.

My children are alumnus of Indianola. As children of Deaf parents, they grew up as visual learners. Indianola art centric milieu was perfect for them. Research shows incorporating art in learning increases academic success. Columbus as the viable place for high quality education should make the right decision.