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Clockwise from top left: Chris Daur, Jodi Goeler, Eric Nyquist, Tom Ariola, and Gary Walsh at committee meeting.
A flood of federal money will enable Hamden schools to keep kids busy and fed this summer and tackle an achievement gap.
Officials unveiled those plans at a meeting Tuesday night of the Hamden Board of Education Operations Committee.
Thanks to $14 million coming to Hamden schools from the federal pandemic-relief American Rescue Plan (ARP), the town will see its “most robust summer programming ever,” schools CFO Tom Ariola told the committee.
Of the $14 million, $9.5 million will go to confronting the achievement gap between regular and special education, $3.2 million to purchasing new technology, such as HVAC systems and Chromebooks, and about $1.4 million to summer programming and transportation, according to the plan.
That $1.4 million means there will be full-day summer programming for all Hamden elementary school children between kindergarten and sixth grade, including free transportation and tuition.
“This is an opportunity for kids to be engaged all day in a program that will provide everything from outdoor time to social and emotional learning opportunities to STEM activities,” Superintendent Jody Goeler told the Indepenent after the public meeting.
“Every child experienced Covid-19 differently, with feelings of isolation and trauma from familial experiences,” Goeler said. “Every family dealt with it as well, whether it had to do with loss of jobs, loss of resources, and/or loss of family members.”
With the help of full-day care, parents may earn an extra eight to ten hours per day, which will be crucial for many attempting to get back into the job market, he said.
Goeler also noted that significant reductions in learning occurred this year due to the frequent absence of the “brick and mortar teacher-student relationship.” He said addressing students’ social and emotional issues is now the most important element of restoring effective academic ability.
“We’re providing kids with the opportunity to get outside of their homes, to be with other children their age, and to have fun. It’s the summer of joy and engagement,” he said.
Ariola reported that there will be programs held in every public school building and that the Hamden school system will be partner with the Albertus Magnus Arts Camp and YMCA to offer maximum space for all children after a year of isolation and frequent confinement.
In addition to recreational and educational activities and opportunities, the BOE plans to provide over 77,000 free breakfasts and lunches to children 18 and under this summer. Those meals will be available between 10 and 11 a.m. each day at 19 different sites around town (listed in the flyer pictured below).
This effort to nourish Hamden’s youth is also partially supported by the Seamless Summer Option, a federal program that has allowed the town to increase the number of sites at which Hamden can offer meals that will be reimbursed by the state, leading to food distribution at places like youth centers and day cares in addition to public schools.
“Our goal is to feed every child in this town,” Ariola said during the committee meeting.
The rise in funding does not necessarily mean changes in the BOE’s degree of frugality.
“We’re not going to run a summer jobs program,” Ariola stated. “Whatever we can save the first year will shift to the second year. If only 12 kids show up, we’re going to move kids or move staff. We’re going to adapt.”
At the end of the discussion, the committee also affirmed that this year’s class of Hamden High seniors will get an outdoor graduation should virus cases remain as low as expected.
“We’re gonna be doing it with the sun in our eyes on a beautiful sunny day. Hopefully it’s 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity,” said Board of Ed member Chris Daur.
“Unless there’s a thunderstorm,” replied Hamden Public Schools Director of Innovation Karen Kaplan. “Then, who knows?”