By Adam Swift
State Senator Lydia Edwards has helped the Winthrop Public Schools secure $250,000 in state earmark funding that will help fund ELL programs and other services in the schools.
“(School Committee Chair Jennifer) Powell and myself spent quite a bit of time with Senator Edwards talking to her about the state of our schools when it comes to ELL (English Language Learner) students and the work that is expected of us by the Department of Education,” said Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard.
Howard said schools in Winthrop and across the state have had difficulty in hiring ELL staff in the face of the rising number of ELL students.
“So doing some strategic work and laying out what we thought we needed, Sen. Edwards advocated for us and that earmarked funding was granted,” said Howard. “It is coming in a little different form than we thought, so we were advised two or three weeks ago that we actually had to write like a grant proposal to write exactly what we are going to be doing with that money, and it works in a reimbursement manner.”
Howard said she has been working with the state and Edwards on how the schools will be using those funds.
“We want to be strategic about it, and we want to make sure we can provide the reimbursement documentation we need in order to receive the funds,” said Howard.
Howard said she was expecting to have the documentation process ready within the week in order to receive the first round of money from the earmark funds.
One of the biggest items in the earmark is to support the opening of a parent information center at the Gorman Fort Banks school that will provide translation services and assistance for parents looking to register their children for school.
Howard said some of the earmark funding would also be used for security and video upgrades at the Gorman Fort Banks in conjunction with the parent information center.
In addition, Howard said some of the funds would be used for the purchase of classroom books in different languages. There is also the possibility that some of the funds could be used to support families who need help paying for athletic or club fees at the schools.
In other business at Monday night’s School Committee meeting, Howard said there will be presentations on MCAS results from the individual schools at the Nov. 13 committee meeting.
Howard also noted that there will be no school for students on Nov. 7 during the town election, but that it will be a professional development day for staff in conjunction with educators from Everett, Chelsea, and Revere.
The School Committee also heard from WHS Student Council President Hannah Parker, who gave an update on events at the school, including a recent college fair and an upcoming dodgeball tournament and Thanksgiving pep rally.