“Operation Joy & Engagement” Lifts Off

“I like to do crafts, art, drawing, music, dancing, video games, I like my phone, my tablet, vegetables, seaweed, and crab legs,” said 8‑year-old Harlem Pressley.

Rising first grader Isabella Parra listened quietly to Pressley’s long list. She also likes a lot of specific activities, but, she reported, ​“I love camp just the most.”

Thanks to a recent flood of federal aid, Parra and Pressley — along with 1,700 other Hamden kids — will get to spend their post-pandemic summers discovering more of their likes and dislikes alongside their peers… and at no cost to their parents.

Tuesday marked the start of some 19 programs that will be funded by a small fraction of the $14 million received by Hamden schools this year through the American Rescue Plan. 

Schools Superintendent Jody Goeler, Assistant Superintendent Chris Melillo, and Hamden schools CFO Tom Ariola Tuesday visited five summer programs located in Hamden High School and Spring Glen Elementary on July 6th.

The three programs currently based at the high school include a leadership development initiative launched through a partnership with local non-profit D.E.S.T.I.N.E.D to Succeed.

Around 175 high schoolers will also participate in a credit recovery program, in which high school students behind on course credits get a chance to catch up through an online accredited program known as Edmentum. That enrollment number is up from an average of ten to 15 students during previous years — partly due to increased funding and primarily due to many students falling behind in classes during the pandemic.

Incoming middle schoolers are also joining high schoolers in the ​“Summer GRIND Program,” a two-hour camp focused on athletics that meets four days a week.

At Spring Glen, some 50 elementary students are engaging in classic summer enrichment activities during the morning hours. Another 50 K‑6 kids have registered for a full-day recreational camp developed through a partnership between Hamden and Right at School, an organization that specializes in after-school and summer programming.

Those two programs aimed at younger children are offered at all eight of Hamden’s elementary schools — though West Woods is sending students to the YMCA, given ongoing construction.

The new camps keep coming. Next week, about 75 elementary students will attend their first week of STEM camp, the product of yet another partnership. The district will work with Albertus Magnus College to present three one-week sessions centered around science, technology, engineering, and math.

Town-sponsored activities and ESL classes will also be held starting next week in many elementary classrooms.

These latest opportunities — excluding town-sponsored classes, which are tuition based — cost about $1.2 million. All of that money came from ESSER II funding (a facet of the federal American Rescue Plan that stands for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief).

This is the first year that transportation will be provided for all students directly from their homes to their summer programs of choice. Forty-eight buses will carry students to and back and in-between locations.

Why ​“in-between”? Many academic and content-oriented programs operate only during the mornings. In order to support parents who are employed or are attempting to return to the workforce, young students will be able to move from a.m. camps to afternoon care at elementary schools. Goeler said supplying ​“wraparound services” is one of the primary goals of these initiatives.

Ariola further projected that Hamden will provide over 60,000 free meals to Hamden youth this summer alone. Hamden has taken advantage of The Community Eligibility Provision, a federal program available to districts where 40 percent of students or more are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, to ensure that all students this summer and through next year will have access to pre-paid breakfasts and lunches.

Superintendent Goeler said this will cut out bureaucratic red tape imposed upon families who already have a lot on their plate. All students, regardless of socioeconomic status, will get to eat whether their guardians have filled out the previously necessary forms or not.

Part Of A Larger Learning Process

Goeler has consistently referred to this summer as ​“Operation Joy and Engagement.”

Though the focus of this summer’s camp series spans from academic achievement to athletic integrity to mental health, all Hamden school administrators agreed that the primary goal is to give students time to relax, have fun, and socialize after a hard year…

… and to ​“save every penny possible” while capitalizing on return on investment, Goeler said.

While this summer is the ultimate product of an expanded budget, it also functions as a pilot for potential programs that may take place in the future.

Goeler said attendance and weekly communication from teachers will be used to flexibly operationalize variables like ​“engagement, skill sets, and the gap between what students know and what they need to know at the start of the school year.”

The point is not to actively test students, but to use ​“fluid feedback” to ascertain how these summer programs are effectively educating Hamden youth and thereby narrowing the extant achievement gap.

As Assistant Superintendent Melillo said, ​“Our mission is to fill our needs, but also to assess our needs.”

Teachers and staff also clarified how they hope students will grow from their summer experiences.

Tom Dyer, the director of athletics across Hamden schools, specified that the ​“Grind” program is all about holistic health. In addition to physical conditioning and educating students on academic eligibility requirements to participate in school sports, he will allot time for kids to read books like Jon Gordon’s The Energy Bus, which explores the idea of positive thinking.

At Spring Glen, veteran elementary teacher Allison Rosenberg said her goal is to ​“encourage curiosity and inquisitiveness” while avoiding ​“burn-out after such a hard year.”

On Tuesday, Rosenberg worked to strengthen literacy among incoming first, second, and third graders with vocabulary worksheets.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old counselor Jordan Wieland expressed her interest in ​“disguised learning,” the process of using games and other creative and entertaining methods to covertly teach students information.

Wieland works from eight to four with a group of ten students from the Right at School program. A rising senior, she hopes to study education in college before ultimately becoming a kindergarten teacher.

Hamden is contemplating plans to carry the underlying pros of personal support and social equity bolstered through summer programming through to following academic years.

Goeler said that all of the ESSER II funds have already been expended this summer, but that ESSER III funds will be utilized throughout next year to hire individuals trained in SRBI— that is, Scientific Research Based Interventions. SRBI strategists work one-on-one and in small groups with students to highlight students’ distinct needs and make sure they get equitable academic care.

Goeler acknowledged that critics have been wary of using these unprecedented and limited funds on projects that may be unsustainable. For example, if these funds are used to hire new staff, it is unclear how those salaries might be paid for in the future.

However, Goeler noted that the majority of funds are being invested in plans with clear long-term benefits.

Tuesday morning, the high school’s new HVAC system was lifted hundreds of feet into the air onto the roof. Other long-needed construction is also finally getting the go-ahead across many of Hamden’s schools.

Goeler also argued that his strategy is to invest in existing programs rather than to create entirely new positions or departments. SRBI professionals have already proved successful in Hamden elementary schools— now he wants to bring more of them in to ​“fill the gaps” and provide the same support systems to all students.

Students’ Takes

Adults may critique the efficacy of youth programming through complicated measures of ROI or number of credits obtained by students. How do kids rate summer camp?

“Big thumbs up!” Harlem Pressley said when asked that question, flashing her tiny thumbs and a wide grin.

Seven-year-old Joliany Sanchez, who goes by ​“Jojo,” stated her favorite part of camp is ​“Water Day,” because she gets to ​“squirt people with water guns.”

Third-graders Sophia and Jayla became fast friends through Right at School’s day camp, the same program attended by Pressley and Sanchez. Sophia went to Dunbar Hill last year, while Jayla attended Spring Glen.

They concurred that after a year spent disproportionately at home, they were happy to have ​“more time to hang out.” Sophia said that both of her parents contracted Covid-19 this year, and that she was lucky enough not to catch it, she didn’t like having ​“to wear a mask in the house.”

While kids and teachers alike are still required to wear masks indoors for the foreseeable future, out on the playground or the designated ​“water park” sidewalk the regulations are less strict.

Except for one rule: ​“If you don’t have something nice to say, keep it to yourself.” That lesson came not from a teacher, but from Sanchez to Pressley during a brief feud on the school slide; a surprisingly intimate moment after a year of disrupted communications.