Governor Dan McKee asked campers at the Oakland Beach branch of the Warwick Boys and Girls Clubs July 5 what they wanted to learn when they’re not in school. The kids answered with a range of ideas including camping, cooking, managing money, reading hard words and learning a language.

To support these aspirations, Mayor Frank Picozzi and McKee signed the Learn365RI Municipal Compact, committing to provide educational opportunities to Warwick students outside of traditional school hours.

Warwick was the 18th community to sign onto this statewide program to provide $4 million in grants to communities seeking to expand learning options for students. The funding is derived from the federal Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund– federal monies to be used to mitigate learning loss from the COVID-19 pandemic– and will be awarded to municipalities in grants ranging from $50,000 to $400,000 by the Rhode Island Department of Education.

While funding has not yet to be awarded, Jeremy Chiappetta, Executive Director of Always Learning Rhode Island– a nonprofit working closely with McKee’s office to support academic enrichment programs statewide, call the compact signing an “important, symbolic act.”

This signing process “commits the city of Warwick to these ideals, to focusing on these goals and to doing what they can to improve outcomes for kids,” Chiappetta said. “By signing that commitment, it made Warwick and Cranston eligible to apply to these grants for these out of school programs.”

“Kids need every boost that we can get them,” Chiappetta added.

Anne Siesel, Assistant Director of Curriculum and Grant Programs, explained that Warwick Public Schools, in partnership with the Warwick Boys and Girls Clubs, applied for the $50,000 grant to support “vacation school.”

For three days of each week of winter, February and Spring Break the school district and the Boys and Girls Clubs will provide two hours of educational programming: one hour for math and one hour for reading. Between all of the breaks, there will be a total of 18 hours of educational enrichment, all housed at the Norwood club. Siesel said that the projected costs will likely total $28,000, but if they are awarded more funding, they would explore additional programming.

“Any time you can provide extra support for kids, it’s a win-win,” she said. “We’re excited to see how well it turns out and if it’s something we want to look to continue in the future.”

Siesel added that while this offering is open to elementary school students throughout the district, the programming supported by this grant will likely support approximately 50 students who utilize the center’s resources during school breaks. She said that most of these students come from Holliman, Hoxsie, Norwood, Sherman and Lyman.

In addition to the eight Warwick teachers hired to teach during breaks, eight educational specialists with the Boys and Girls Club will help facilitate small group learning. Siesel said that the projected student pupil ratio is 6:1.

“They’ll have very individualized instruction to provide enrichment in the areas of reading and math,” she said.

Lara D'Antuono, Chief Executive of the Boys and Girls Clubs, said even though they’re still working on the curriculum for this new program, they will continue to employ “disguised learning.”

“We incorporate learning into everything we do,” she added. “We try to make learning part of the everyday experience.”

She shared a few examples of hands-on learning. In the gym, when the kids play basketball, they can score an extra point by answering a trivia question correctly. They incorporate math into cooking by asking the students to half the recipe. 

D'Antuono said that in the 28 years she’s worked at the club, they’ve had a strong relationship with the school district. She’s excited that this grant will further bolster this partnership.

“It’s great that the governor is recognizing how important these relationships are because it really does take a community to raise a child,” she added. “Between the school and the club, we have these kids more than their parents do. If we can help create an environment that supports learning in both of those areas for that child throughout the day, they’re definitely going to benefit.”

Chiappetta explained that each community that signed on has its own approach to meeting the mission of Learn365RI, which is providing a comprehensive program to boost reading scores, math scores and FAFSA completion rates. Some communities will partner with one or more community organizations, others will run entirely through the school department and some will utilize other community resources like libraries and parks and recreation departments.