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Dr. David Hopson |
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November 6 , 2006 I first wrote about the Expanded Learning Time grant in the September 9th Superintendent’s Corner, as we were preparing our proposal. Gateway has now been awarded a $15,000 grant for “School Redesign: Expanding Learning Time to Support Student Success Planning”. This grant will allow us to explore ways to increase the school day and/or year. I will emphasize once again that this is a planning grant and that, by accepting the grant and going through the planning process, we will not be committed to expanding the school day/year. Please join us in the Gateway Performing Arts Center at 7 PM on Thursday, November 29 to review the process, begin developing questions, and share hopes and concerns regarding expanding learning time. Although this grant is nearly $25,000 less than the amount we asked for, I believe that it is in the district’s best interest to accept the grant and adapt our process to meet these financial constraints. This is a chance to review what we do as a district, ask probing questions about what we want for our children, look at options to add back the many enrichment activities that we’ve lost since the state cut back education funding, and expand into some areas that have been requested for many years (additional course options, district wrap-around, homework help, intramural sports, theatre, etc.). In short, this process will be helpful no matter what we decide about expanding the school day or year. Under the terms of the grant we have almost 8 months to ask questions, gather information, develop options and either turn in a proposed plan or reject expanding learning time. The planning process will be led by 4 groups—a district steering committee, an elementary committee, middle school committee, and high school committee—of school staff, parents, community members, and students, who will collect questions, gather information, and make recommendations regarding the potential use of additional time. We also plan to hold two additional district-wide meetings (beyond the November 29th meeting) to gather additional information, share committee findings, and come to some type of consensus regarding expanding student learning time. To be successful in this planning endeavor, we will need many volunteers willing to review information, attend committee meetings, address concerns, and make unbiased recommendations regarding expanding educational opportunities within a longer school day/year. Our initial expectations are that each committee will meet at least five times, be involved in the community meetings, review information, and potentially visit other schools that are using an expanded day/year concept. Committee meetings will begin in January and be complete by June 2007. A preliminary plan is due to the State Department of Education by August, with a final plan by December 2007 for implementation in September of 2008—if the district elects to move forward. If you are interested in serving on any of these committees I request that you forward your name to Wendy Long (wlong@grsd.org or phone 685-1003) stating the committee you’d like to serve on and your role (parent, student, community member, etc.) and plan to attend the preliminary district meeting on November 29th. If you’d like to participate in the process but not serve on a committee, we will be keeping the community informed on the progress of our planning and will take public input through a variety of ways including, as always, your suggestions through the US Mail to 12 Littleville Road or by email to myopinion@grsd.org. While we can’t predict the outcome of this review of learning time, the process will be interesting and informative.
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