The school that art saved

Second-grader Yadeliz Santiago is joyously mashing black magic marker into a mound of white putty. She’s shaping the gray mass to depict a stage in the life cycle of a ladybug. 

Her class at the pre-K-8 Roosevelt School here has already watched a real ladybug start as an egg, go through the larvae and pupae stages, and emerge as an adult insect in a small transparent container. The students have created pictures on their iPads. And today their teacher, Lucille McFarland-Overby, is stealthily watching to see what they’ve learned...