Uinta County parents and teachers say they were left out of the decision making process when the school superintendent announced he would scale back art classes in elementary schools to make more time for science. Superintendent James Bailey says students were only getting about 1 or 2 days of science a week, which wasn’t enough since state assessments will soon be testing kids in science. But last week, Bailey met with teachers and came up with a possible plan to integrate the two subjects. He says the plan could actually improve the district’s curriculum.
“What we want to make sure and do in each of those is not to lose, kind of, the innovation, design and art process. Because, again, even if you’re going to be an engineer you’ve got to be highly creative, you’ve got to be able to innovate,” says Bailey.
Bailey says one possible solution would be to teach extra science in the months before the Proficiency Assessment for Wyoming Students test—also known as the PAWS test - and teach more art toward the end of the school year.
