On August 13, 2012 the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School Committee held a special meeting in which I presented plans to open a Kindergarten – Grade 6 after school program that was given the name, “ASPIRE.” The acronym stands for:
A = After
S = School
P = Program
I = Incorporationg
R = Recreation &
E = Education
In prior years approximately 75 children in the Orange Elementary Public Schools attended an after school program that was grant funded. The five year grant known as the “21st Century Learning Grant” expired at the end of the 2011 – 2012 school year, leaving area parents and students with no after school programming. Many families in the Orange-Athol region also utilize pricey private after school programs to which transportation must be arranged and in which there is little connection between classroom instruction and after school academic programming.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education posted grant applications for another 21st Century Additional Learning Time Grant for this academic year. We will be filing an application for funding, and it is due on September 20, 2012. Competitive priority in this grant fund is given to applications that are jointly developed between school districts and/or other partnering entities. Mahar and Orange Elementary will partner on this grant application, and invite some other after school programs to participate with us in the grant application process.
I informed the school committee that the ASPIRE program would be available for families in Orange and surrounding towns. The program will be housed at the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School because the nearly 200,000 square foot facility offers more opportunities for children to engage in sports, arts and crafts, cooking, and networked computer use. The Mahar facility also sits on more than 100 acres of land, offering students opportunities for outside play, nature walks, and even a low level ROPES course that is used for Mahar’s physical education program.
It is also our intention to work with area farmers and our partners at the Seeds of Solidarity to have a small farm on campus. The children will have the opportunity to have real hands on experiential learning with regard to agriculture. The opportunity to grow food that we can distribute on our campus is also very exciting!
Children who attend the ASPIRE program every day during the school year will be provided with an additional 290 hours of instruction in mathematics and language arts. I presented data from the Massachusetts Extended Learning Initiative that showed how the additional hours of instruction have paid huge academic dividends for children across the state.
The cost of the program is $10.50 per 3-hour day. Children will be provided with snacks, 90 minutes of instruction in mathematics and language arts, and 60 – 90 minutes of recreation daily. The adult to student ratio was set at 8.5 students per adult. This is because each group of 17 students is scheduled to be supervised by two adults at all times. At no point will a child be unaccompanied by an adult in this program. We have a huge facility and the safety of the children is our first priority.
Services will be available on the first day of school which is August 29, 2012. Applications are available for parents at the Ralph C. Mahar Regional Website (www.rcmahar.org) and in the Superintendent’s Office at the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School. Applications are also be available at the Fisher Hill, Dexter Park, Butterfield, and Petersham Center Schools.
Questions about the program can be directed to me at 978-544-2920 or via e-mail (mbaldassarre@rcmahar.org).
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