David Kauffman, Senior Manager of Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ Apex Arts Magnet Program and a lifelong musician who has had an enormous impact in the public and private sector, has been selected as the 2025 Maryland Music Education Association Hall of Fame inductee.
This award recognizes an individual for excellence in teaching and/or administration, contributions and improvements made in music education and the betterment of the profession through exemplary service or acts.
Kauffman, who has served in his current role since 2018, has held a variety of educational roles over the last 30 years. He served students as a teacher, band director, fine arts coordinator and assistant principal for 20 years before becoming AACPS’ Coordinator of Music in 2015. He has held his current position, where he helped to refine the Apex Arts program’s mission and refine instructional, performance, and presentation resources, since 2018.
“It has been my life’s honor to have met so many great people and had countless amazing experiences because of my involvement in music,” Kauffman said. “I am truly grateful for this recognition because it serves as a pleasant reminder of the people and events that make up my life story.”
Kauffman has also supervised teacher interns for Towson University and the University of Maryland Baltimore County and has been director of the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Jazz Combo since 2021. He is the President-Elect for the Jazz Education Network, an international organization committed to advancing jazz education, and has served on the organization’s Board of Directors since 2019. He was a member of the National Association for Music Education’s Council for Jazz Education from 2013 to 2022 and served as its chair from 2018 to 2022.
Kauffman will be formally inducted at MMEA’s annual conference on March 8.