NASP Children’s Fund Community Service Project in
Boston
Outdoor Science for the
Sarah
Greenwood
School
By Gayle Macklem,
Cochair Local Arrangements and Jeff McNish, President, NASP Children’s Fund
The NASP Children’s Fund (NASP-CF) is presently organizing a
community service project as part of its annual commitment to promote children’s
learning and mental health during the NASP Convention. Last year the NASP-CF sponsored a playground
build while in
New Orleans
through KaBOOM!. This was by far the largest
project, both financially and logistically, ever completed by CF or NASP. The
experience was extremely rewarding for all of those who were able to
participate in giving a lasting gift to a community that had undergone so much
suffering, and represented the best of what community service projects can
accomplish. Of course there is a cost to producing such an event and although
the NASP-CF Board would like to sponsor a build every year it is simply not
feasible. Neither is building a playground in
Boston in February! The NASP-CF board met
this past summer and discussed options in scale somewhere between our
traditional “I Like Me” book giving program and the KaBOOM! build. We decided
to support a local school in their effort to create an outdoor science centers
at the school by funding the necessary equipment.
Sarah
Greenwood
School
The Boston Public School System is the oldest pubic school
system in
America
.
It was founded in 1647.
Boston
is the home of the nation’s first public school, the first elementary school
and the first public high school. In September of 2006,
Boston was named the top city school system
in the nation winning the Broad Prize for
Urban Education. The Boston Public
Schools serve nearly 56,000 pre-kindergarten through grade 12 students in 143
schools. One of those schools is the Sarah Greenwood K-8 School located in
Dorchester, the largest and most populous neighborhood of
Boston.
The
Sarah
Greenwood
School
is a two-way Spanish-English bilingual school. All students learn both Spanish and English. The current enrollment is
363 students, 33% black, 64.2% Hispanic, .8% Asian, .6% Native American and
1.1% white. The
Sarah
Greenwood
School
has quietly
done remarkable work to advance
achievement among a diverse population of students and has consistently placed
student learning as its highest priority. In 2005, The Sarah Greenwood
School was named a “Title 1 Distinguished School” by the National Association of State Title I Directors (NASTID) and was one of
only 52 public schools in the country that year to hold this distinction. The
school has a 'Stay In School' program and received the first Thomas W. Payzant ‘School on the
Move’ Award in 2006. All school staff members emphasize respect
and are dedicated to helping students succeed.
The teachers at the
Sarah
Greenwood
School produce a parent newsletter
and work very hard to improve
communication with their families. They have both a School Site Council and an
Instructional Leadership Team. They provide an after school sports program and
a robotics club. The school gives books to students to help families build
their home libraries four times during the year. They offer extended day
programs for students in need, theater and dance, and strongly emphasize
science instruction.
Outdoor Science
Learning
The Sarah Greenwood staff are developing a plan to build an
outdoor science classroom in the schoolyard. Schoolyards tend to be neglected
open spaces, but many people feel that they have the potential to enhance
learning in the classroom and improve the quality of education, particularly
for English learners.
Boston is at the forefront of a national movement
to build outdoor classrooms for elementary and middle school students. The goal
of the Boston Schoolyard Initiative involves constructing
outdoor classrooms in public schoolyards and training teachers to use
the spaces to supplement their teaching in English Language Arts and science. Active
environments can help to address childhood obesity, school learning, and
neighborhood revitalization. The eventual goal is to
create outdoor classrooms where planting beds, sample woodlands, and green
technology could provide hands-on science lessons. According to the Christian Science Monitor
(August 20, 2008), the Boston Schoolyard Initiative has become a
national model as cities struggle to address both childhood obesity and
academic gaps.
Supplying “Experiments on the Move”
Andria Amador, M.S.,CAGS,
Assistant Director of Psychological Services for the city of
Boston, brought the needs of this school to
our attention. Their current need is for supplies for the outdoor
science center. Teachers would like to do experiments “on the move” according
to the school principal, Ms. Isabel Mendez. They need a variety of items for
collecting scientific samples. They need
storage carts, measurement tools and magnifiers, clipboards, aprons, goggles,
gloves, a weather station, a tracking compass and other lab tools. After consulting with teachers and students,
our contact at the school, Ms. Landing, determined that they would also love to
have a robotics engineering kit.
This is a hard working, dedicated and really remarkable
school staff. They really deserve our help! And, by the way, Ms. Mendez invites school psychologists to visit the
school when they come to
Boston!
You Can Help
To support the NASP-CF contribution for the
Sarah
Greenwood
School, NASP has graciously decided to
again allocate to monies generated from the Fun Run in
Boston to the project. Additionally, if you
would like to donate to this project you may do so through the link found on
the NASP webpage, http://www.nasponline.org/about_nasp/childfund.aspx,
or send a check to Judy Martin, NASP-CF at 9000 226th Court, Villa
14-A, Salem, WI, 53168 or the NASP Office at 4340 East/West Highway, Suite 402,
Bethesda, MD, 20814.
Khadaroo,
S. T. (2008, August 20).
Boston's
newest classrooms: schoolyards: In sprucing up playgrounds, the Boston
Schoolyard Initiative has found a way to help kids learn. The Christian Science Monitor.
Lopez, R.,
Campbell,
R., &
Jennings,
J. (2008). The
Boston
Schoolyard Initiative: A Public-Private Partnership for Rebuilding Urban Plan Spaces. Journal
of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 617-638