This year, Sabine Denise Jacques and Mariah Lapiroff from the CES Joy and Justice team have been facilitating a theater club in Easthampton that centers self- and social-awareness, embodied connection, and belonging and joy for 6th & 7th graders. They have been using the Brown Paper Studio theater practice to support collaborative thinking and play. Brown Paper Studio is an arts methodology designed to awaken creativity within individuals and groups and to utilize the resulting creative energy for peaceful social transformation; and a unique theater practice that uses art, games,...
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How to reach students without internet access during coronavirus? Schools get creative
This article about students without internet access at home was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. On the Friday before spring break at Meigs Middle School in Decatur,...
Franklin Tech to open nursing simulation lab next school year
MONTAGUE — Construction of a new nursing simulation lab that Franklin County Technical School had planned to open this fall has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the school still expects to have the lab available at some point during the next school...
Turners Falls High School seniors surprised with parade
MONTAGUE — The Class of 2020 is grappling with what has become an unusual graduation season, due to restrictions on large public gatherings that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. Seniors at Turners Falls High School, probably like at most other high...
Local groups team up, offer forum to guide parents in supporting children’s mental health needs during pandemic
NORTHAMPTON -- Local youth-serving organizations have teamed up to offer an online forum that aims to provide parents with vital information to support their children’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Teens, Tweens, & Quarantines” is a Zoom...
Area officials respond to governor’s order students won’t return to regular classrooms
To the surprise of few educators, public and private school students will not be returning to their regular classrooms this year. Gov. Charlie Baker announced Tuesday at his daily press conference that schools are ordered to remain closed as the state continues to...
Baker orders schools to stay closed through end of school year
Governor Charlie Baker on Tuesday ordered the state’s schools to remain closed through the remainder of the school year. “It’s the right thing to do, considering the facts on the ground associated with the COVID 19 pandemic," Baker said. He said there was no...
MCAS Requirement Waived for Mass. Students This Spring
Students in Massachusetts won't have to take the MCAS exams this spring, amid school closures across the state due to the coronavirus outbreak. Gov. Charlie Baker signed the law that cancels the exam requirement for graduating high school. "Cancelling MCAS testing...
An Epidemic Far Worse Than Coronavirus
It feels the world I was born into has been taken from me without prior notice, without warning. Coronavirus snuck in like a thief in the middle of the night while I slept in peace, and robbed me of my friends, my family, my education and — to an extent — my...
After School Programming During the Crisis
CES began running 21st Century Learning Programs after school 20 years ago, and currently runs fourteen After School Programs in Franklin and Hampshire counties, including 12 programs funded by 21st Century Learning Grants, as well as two fee-for-service programs....
Educators rising to remote learning challenges
Schools across the state, country and the globe are closed amid the coronavirus pandemic. Here in Massachusetts, schools are slated to reopen at the beginning of May, the state is now per Gov. Charlie Baker’s order. In the meantime, local educators in the Pioneer...
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