Summer Advisor 2021

8 CEA ADVISOR SUMMER 2021 SUPPORTING TAKING CARE OF OURSELVES, OTHERS WITH CEA GRANTS, TEACHERS TAKE ON PROJECTS TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ PRIDE IN THEIR SCHOOLS From murals and shiny new

with which the town has longstanding ties. “The teacher who organized this great event is the wonderful Michelle Gladue, a fourth-grade teacher at Pine Grove,” says Moss. “She always finds opportunities to teach her students the importance of helping others and being civic-minded individuals. When she heard that we wanted to organize a food drive, she didn’t hesitate to volunteer as a leader. She worked with her students to publicize the event, make signs, and count up the contributions as they came in.” “A lot of people are in need,” Gladue explains, “including many who find themselves in circumstances they didn’t expect— loss of a job, illness, or loss of a loved one. We live in one of the richest states in one of the richest One of the first-place winners, Anchor School at Harbor Landing in Stamford, is an alternative school moving into a building of its own for the first time this fall. The school had previously rented space in an office building, and teachers were very limited in their ability to decorate classrooms and modify the space to make it feel welcoming to students. “Now that we have our own space, we want to make it truly our own,” says grant recipient Ryan Perkins, an English teacher at the school. “When I saw the application for the grant from the CEA AE, I saw a unique opportunity to make our environment student-centered.” Anchor School at Harbor Landing serves middle and high school students who have previously struggled in a traditional school setting. The school offers smaller class sizes and a greater focus on social and emotional needs and community than most traditional secondary schools. Perkins and the other teachers have not yet had a chance to visit their new space. They plan to get a feel for the building and decide after the first few weeks of school how

best to use the grant money to enhance students’ pride in their space. Ideas include new bulletin boards and painting projects, including working with students on creating murals of their own design. “Our school is very diverse, and I’d love to use some of the money to allow students to culturally develop the school and make sure they feel represented in the space,” Perkins says. “Enhancing their feelings of

thousands of Connecticut residents have struggled with hunger; more than 150,000 of those residents have been children. With schools shutting down last spring and summer, cutting many students off from a primary source of their daily nutrition, teachers quickly mobilized. Many volunteered hours of their time evenings and weekends to collect and distribute food to families in need. This summer, CEA members continue to take up the cause. “Our members care deeply about their students and know what a difficult year it’s been for so many of them,” says CEA Regional Organizer Brendan Murphy. “They know firsthand that food insecurity threatens children’s health and development and causes greater difficulty in school. In spite of so many other demands placed on our educators since the start of the pandemic, they continue to do everything in their power to ensure their students are not undernourished or overlooked.” From late May through mid-June this year, teachers organized food drives at their schools, collecting nonperishable items such as canned fruit and vegetables, dried beans, canned soup, tuna, and chicken, shelf-stable milk and juice, peanut butter, and dried herbs and spices. Avon Education Association President Jon Moss notes that his district’s Pine Grove School collected more than 800 items for Gifts of Love, a local charitable organization bulletin boards to power-washed exteriors and flowerbeds, schools around Connecticut will be more welcoming for students and staff this fall, thanks to grants from CEA. Each spring, the CEA Aspiring Educators (CEA AE) Program typically organizes beautification projects at underresourced Connecticut schools. College students who are pre-service educators take on painting, cleaning, and gardening, among other projects, to give schools a brighter, more welcoming feel for students and staff. Due to COVID restrictions this spring, the CEA AE decided to instead offer grants to CEA members seeking to improve the look of their schools. The CEA AE initially offered $3,000 grants to two Connecticut schools in need of sprucing up. When applications came in from CEA members around the state, however, aspiring educators saw that the need was much greater. CEA’s Board of Directors stepped up and authorized additional funding so that two second- place winners could receive grants of $2,500 and 13 third-place winners would receive $1,000 grants.

The CEA Aspiring Educators Program usually organizes an annual beautification project at an underresourced Connecticut school; however, due to COVID restrictions, this year students decided to offer grants to schools instead. In this 2017 photo, CEA AE members work to paint murals, posters, and kindness rocks at Langford Elementary School in East Hartford.

Arita at Stamford’s Davenport Ridge Elementary School. Third-place awards went to schools in the CREC district, Cromwell, Danbury, East Windsor, Enfield, and Stamford. Photos and descriptions of completed grant projects will be posted to CEA’s blog .

connectedness to the school will only help them want to come to school and be there every day.” Also receiving a first-place award was Kelly Shea at Enfield’s Prudence Crandall Elementary School. Second- place grant awards went to Maureen Curran at West Hartford’s Louise Duffy Elementary School and Kevin

TEACHERS HELP COMBAT HUNGER IN THEIR COMMUNITIES As the pandemic exacerbated food insecurity, hundreds of affording food. “One of my students commented

three schools took the lead in organizing their local food drive. One of those teachers, Broad Brook School’s Elaine Shapiro, who serves on EWEA’s executive board, helped collect several grocery bags’ worth of food from a list provided by FoodShare. “I see the need for families and the toll this year has taken on them,” she says. “Donating food is a clear way to help them.” “Even though the economy is picking up and many people are going back to work, the need is still there,” says Jette. “This becomes even more crucial during times when school is not in session, because many students get at least one, if not two, of their meals at school.”

that he loved coming into school and watching the thermometer rise on the poster we made as the number of items collected increased. It was also rewarding to see the faces of the students light up as they were thanked for the groceries they contributed. It was cool for the kids to see the boxes fill up and realize their small contributions added up to make a big difference.” “Though we were winding down and looking forward to summer, we also realized the importance of helping people in need,” explains Jon Jette, president of East Windsor Education Association, explained in June. In East Windsor, teachers in

countries in the world. If everyone gave what they could when they could—whether it is time, money, or both—our world would be a better place. And if I want change, I need to be a part of it. This was something small I could do.” Teachable moments Gladue’s students helped by contributing to the food drive and creating posters explaining why some people had difficulty

Before the school year ended, Avon teachers and students collected hundreds of donations to feed the hungry. Avon teacher Michelle Gladue gives two thumbs up to the colleagues and students who pitched in and made their school’s food drive a success.