Lee Middle School in Bradenton celebrates arts in education week with flash-mob style performance before school

MANATEE -- Parents and passengers were witness to a spectacle at Lee Middle School as they dropped off students Wednesday morning -- all part of a celebration for National Arts in Education week.

Stretching the length of the drop-off line, students performed in the band and the orchestra, danced, drew chalk art on the sidewalk and even acted as mimes as students and parents arrived.

"This is an integral part of what our school is," said Dudley Leigh, the fine arts department chairwoman at Lee. She called the performance as close to a flash mob as the school could get.

National Arts in Education week was established through a resolution by Congress in 2010. According to statistics, 93 percent of Americans believe that the arts are vital to providing a well-rounded education, but two-thirds of public school teachers believe arts are getting crowded out of schools. Across the country, 97 percent of elementary schools don't offer dance and 96 percent don't offer theater.

Low-income students who participate in the arts are twice as likely to graduate college as their peers with no arts education, according to officials.

Lee students can choose from theater, orchestra, art,

dance, band, vocal performance, musical theater and TV and film production when they arrive to the magnet school. By the time they reach the eighth grade, the students are taking two or three arts courses, in addition to their academic classes.

Nicholas Welch and Kenneth Perren, both 13-year-old eighth-graders at Lee, play the cello in the orchestra. Kenneth was inspired by seeing the Sarasota Orchestra when he was in fifth grade. Welch says he had a similar experience.

"I just like being in advanced classes. It makes me work harder to be good at what I do. I want to go to high school, go to college and then eventually become a professional," Kenneth said.

The arts classes, which attract students to the school, provide a break from the mandatory academic classes, students say.

"It's cool because you get a break from the classes that you don't like," Nicholas said.

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter @MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Lee Middle School in Bradenton celebrates arts in education week with flash-mob style performance before school ."