Gilbert Magnet School
At the beginning of the 1990’s, the Prime 6 plan began to be modified by creating magnet schools at some locations. CVT Gilbert Elementary was chosen to offer an arts-based curriculum. Dr. Kay Carl, Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education and Curriculum Services, chose June Eshelman to transition the school to a K-5 magnet. Students in the neighborhood were given preferential enrollment opportunities and the remaining members of the student body were chosen by lottery. All staff members, specialists, and teachers were selected for their ability to integrate the arts into all areas of the curriculum at every grade level. The CVT Gilbert Magnet School for Communications and the Arts opened in 1994. There has been a waiting list every year for a seat in this prestigious school.
Thematic instruction has been at the core of the school. The emphasis is on Music, Visual Art, Drama, Creative Movement/Dance, and Communications. Gilbert is the only elementary school in the CCSD with a 450 seat theatre complex which includes a dance studio. The school also developed a TV and recording studio. News airs daily and is streamed to parents at home.In 2010, Gilbert received the Ronald L. Simpson Award. It is given yearly to the #1 magnet school in America.
“The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of the nation, is close to the center of a nation’s purpose – and is a test to the quality of a nation’s civilization.” President John F. Kennedy