Hilton Head Island Elementary School for the Creative Arts is a Title I school in a unique community of Southern Beaufort County, South Carolina. While Hilton Head is known as a resort area, there is an established population of native island residents as well as asubstantial Hispanic population. The school is made up of a total of 597 students, and reflects balance of students of differing cultural,academic, and socio-economic backgrounds. The largest demographic subgroup of the school is that of Hispanic or Latino, comprising 40% of our student population. Most children from this subgroup are English Language Learners, speaking Spanish as their first native language within the home. The student population is further comprised of Caucasian (34%), African American (18%), and two or more races (6%). Less than 1% of the student body is representative of Asian or American Indian or Native Alaskan subgroups. The school receives Title I federal funding and resources, with a free and reduced lunch percentage of 57.05% and poverty index of 62.1%. Academically, there are 57 students serviced through special education via differing categorizations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, making up 9.6% of the school population. 13.26% of the school population is comprised of Gifted and Talented (G/T) learners, with 78 students meeting criteria for academic G/T services and 6 students eligible for G/T in the Arts. Of the 73 staff members in the school, 80.8% are certified teachers. The school has 4 certified teachers in the Performing Arts subjects of Dance, Drama, Music, and Art. The school is staffed with one principal, one assistant principal, one guidance counselor, two instructional coaches, and 12 classified support positions.

Kelly Miller Elementary School is a rural, high minority, Title I school in Fairfield County where we challenge all students, staff, and faculty to “Inspire Excellence in Academics and the Arts”. We strive to be a culturally-inclusive school that provides experiences with diverse cultures through hands-on arts learning, creating, and performing. Kelly Miller incorporates STEAMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, and Medical) into daily learning by offering various courses and activities during the school day including Robotics, Coding, Animation, Math Lab, Science Lab, Visual and Performing Arts courses, and medical-related presentations and activities. As an arts-focused school, we offer General Music, Visual Art, and Dance to all grades (Child Development 3 year old through 6th Grade), as well as instrumental music courses including: 2nd Grade Ukuleles, 3rd Grade African & Caribbean Percussion Ensemble, 4th Grade Band, 5th Grade Band, 6th Grade Band, 6th Grade Jazz Band, 5th Grade American Music History, and 6th Grade Western Civilization Music History. Our after school offerings include: Piano Lessons, Tiger Tones Chorus (3rd-6th grades), Cub Choir (Child Development-2nd grade), Podcast, Drumline, Chamber Winds, Tigerettes Dance, Art Club, and Drama Troupe. These after school arts activities allow students to further their creativity, hone their skills, and make connections in more arts areas. We pride ourselves on having been an ABC school since 2014, being the recipient of the Mr. Holland’s Opus Award for new band instruments, being a Support Music Merit Award recipient for 6 years in a row, and having competed and won at the national level for drum line and wind ensemble performances in Orlando, Florida. Our goal is to intertwine the arts and academics to help students develop into the critical, creative, and compassionate adults the future needs.

Lady’s Island Middle School is a proud Title I, MedTech7, STEAM2 and ABC magnet servicing students through multiple distinguished arts, rigorous academic study, and a highlight on health sciences. Our current, premier arts offerings include theater, chorus, band, and visual arts. However, our students are also able to fuel their creative tanks with our after school club options, such as photography club, art club, Pokemon club, yoga club, garden club, book club, robotics and more. The vision of our school is to be identified as an exemplary middle school that provides students with intentional, high quality arts programs and rigorous academic study through arts integration. Our strategic plan focuses on growing our current arts programs through high quality instruction and advanced materials to even more exceptional offerings for our students. It [strategic plan] focuses on supplying support to our limited programs, such as dance, by providing exploration opportunities for our students, like access to curriculum and technological materials, work-based exploration, volunteer chair with program expertise and artist-in-residence opportunities. Our school offers students a unique way for them to explore their culture and the culture of others, nourish their creativity through formal and informal learning opportunities, release their artistic expression in our school and community, and lastly, support them through exposure to industry professionals and an understanding of how to thrive as world class citizens using the arts.