Schools win award for best music education

ATLANTA — Six school districts in Georgia have been recognized as one of the best for music education.

Three metro Atlanta school districts in Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett county were among the districts given recognition from the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Baldwin, Clarke and Putnam school districts also won the distinction.

Eastside Elementary School in Douglasville also received a SupportMusic Merit Award for its exemplary music education program.

“The links between student success and music education have now been demonstrated by brain researchers in multiple studies,” said Mary Luehrsen of the NAMM Foundation. “These schools and districts are models for other educators who see music as a key ingredient in a well-rounded curriculum that makes music available to all children, regardless of zip code.”

The award recognizes districts that show a high commitment to music education through their funding, staffing, standards and access.

The initiative of the NAMM Foundation is to support music education programs to help the progression of students.

A total of 527 districts were given the award.

The Valdosta Daily Times reports assistant nursing professor Myron Faircloth asked the university in February for three years of documents that are considered public records under Georgia law. He says he was attempting to discover whether fellow faculty members had made negative comments about him.

University officials told Faircloth fulfilling the request would cost him $7,000. He narrowed it to cover a six-month period and was told he would still be charged $1,000.

The university said in a statement it needed to charge for review and redaction of legally protected personnel or student information. Faircloth sent another revised request this month.