CONTACT:  Wendy V. Long, Public Relations

                        (413) 685-1003

27 Attended Expanded Learning Time all-committees meeting

Huntington - A total of 27 students, staff and parents attended the All-Committees meeting of the Expanded Learning Time planning project on January 9, 2007.

Superintendent David Hopson led the event, which started as a combined meeting of the elementary, middle and high school planning committees, together with the project’s steering committee.  Emphasizing that this is still just a planning process, the Superintendent outlined the process that will be taken over the next 5 months.  Elementary, Middle and High School committees will meet at least twice a month from now until June.  The Steering Committee will meet monthly until June, but members are encouraged to attend other committee meetings.

All four committees will come together in April to report on the strategies that each group is most interested in.  We will also decide whether or not to include switching the start times of elementary schools with the Middle/High Schools (as supported by adolescent and child sleep research) in our design.

The Steering Committee will continue to meet during the summer months, presenting a draft plan to the School Committee in July for approval in August.  A preliminary plan is due to the Massachusetts DOE on August 31st.

Committees were encouraged to build partnerships to help provide enrichment activities as part of their extended day program, and to try to bring those partners onto their committees.

All attendees received a copy of the publication “Designing an Expanded Learning Time School: A Planning Guide” and were encouraged to work using or adapting those planning tools. 

The Gateway Regional School District has a website dedicated to information on Expanded Learning Time.  All interested persons are encouraged to go to the district website (www.grsd.org ), click on “read more” under the Superintendent’s Corner banner, and follow the Expanded Learning Time links. Or go directly to the ELT web pages at http://www.grsd.org/administration/ExpandedLearningTime.htm

All committee meeting notes will be posted on this website.