The Chelsea Public Schools kicked off their first Learning Hubs on Monday at the Chelsea High School (CHS) and the Morrie Siegel Clark Avenue Middle School – showing great success at the Siegel that they hope to replicate at the other middle schools this week as well.
Learning Hubs are a new offering for the District where young people who are distracted at home or need supervision while their parents work – or don’t have reliable technology – can go to the school for their remote lessons. Students set up in the gyms, libraries and cafeterias with staff member support to participate in the day’s classes online – just as their peers at home are doing.
Supt. Almi Abeyta said they had some very good news out of the Siegel.
“A really bright spot was the Morrie Siegel Clark Avenue Middle School because we had 39 students show up on the first day,” she said. “The staff did a phenomenal job reaching out to families and they helped to find students we thought would benefit from this and also had teachers identify students. It went so well that I asked our principal team to share what they did and the strategies they used with other schools.”
At CHS, there has been a slow trickle of students that come in through the back door at the Stadium and proceed up to the Library. It has been successful for those using it, but not many have reported there so far.
Abeyta said she felt more students at CHS would be coming once the word was out.
The Wright Middle and Browne Middle Schools were slated to start their Learning Hubs on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
Meanwhile, For Kids Only (FKO) continues to work with the district to establish and staff Learning Hubs for elementary students at the Burke Complex. Right now, there are many more teachers coming into the building at the lower grades to teach, so it will be important for the District and FKO to identify classroom space for the various Hubs – as the elementary schools share gym and café-torium spaces. More information on those Hubs are expected soon.