Brophy ELT Parent Committee

Questions concerning ELT? Email them to
brophyeltinfo@gmail.com and the Brophy parents who monitor the email traffic and maintain this blog will post the information here for everyone! We hope to respond to all emails within a 72-hour period. Unfortunately, unforseen circumstances may delay the response.

Need to reference a document? Go to ELT Parent Committee Documents for more information

Regards,
Your ELT Parent Committee

Letter to Brophy Families

August 19, 2009

Dear Brophy Families:

Welcome back to Brophy School and the Expanded Learning Time program! We havehad a busy summer preparing for our second year of ELT.

Our state legislature voted to award Brophy School the ELT grant for 2009-2010 in the amount of $617,500, based on our projected enrollment. We are one of twenty-threechools in Massachusetts to continue with this initiative. Chris Gabrieli, chairman of the National Center on Time and Learning, and co-author of the book, Time to Learn, said in a recent Boston Globe article, “Winning enough funding to continue the (ELT) program at all the schools that wanted to is a vote of ringing endorsement from state government, given the weak economy.”

In July, Jenn Hendry and I joined Chris Gabrieli and a panel of educators in Newton to discuss the ELT initiative. Newton 2020 is a local group interested in exploring the benefits of a longer school day. They were very impressed with all that we have accomplished at Brophy, and plan to visit our school this year.

Brophy’s ELT program will have a similar structure to last year, along with some important additions, many as a result of parent feedback. One major revision is that the first hour of each day will be devoted exclusively to reading instruction. There will be no Music, Art or Gym and no special services outside the classrooms during that hour. All staff will be working directly with children on reading activities. We hope that all students will arrive on time so that they can benefit from this important school-wide intensive reading initiative.

During the 8th hour, we will continue with Core Rotations on Monday and Tuesday. Many of the topics remain the same, with some modifications. The staff has worked hard to identify and strengthen areas that needed improvement. Wednesday will continue to be Kids’ Club Day, with the first meeting of clubs on Wednesday, September 16.

Last spring, the Brophy teachers and support staff enthusiastically voted to continue the ELT program at our school for this year. They are demonstrating this enthusiasm by “opting in” to teach many ELT hours. During the first hour, we have one hundred percent of our classroom teachers working with many specialists who will be lending support to all grade levels. In the 8th hour, over ninety percent of classes and clubs will be staffed by Brophy classroom teachers and specialists. More specific information regarding teachers, rotations and clubs will be shared soon with the Brophy community.

We look forward to another successful year of ELT with your children. Brophy School is proud to be part of such a progressive, educational initiative.

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

Sincerely,

Kath Reilly
ELT Facilitator
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