Targeted Assistance/LPS Lawrence Family Public Academy During FY’19, LFD, Inc. continued its partnership with Lawrence Public Schools as a School Turnaround Operator of best practices of Lawrence Family Development Charter School, The goals for Lawrence Family Public Academy were as follows: A school-wide PBS system was introduced with consistent use of visuals and language across environments and curriculum to address the needs of all students: The team of teachers at LFPA worked diligently throughout the year to consistently use the social-cognitive language presented through a series of workshops by Pam Ely. These included the use of reminders such as “follow the group plan,” “think with your eyes,” “use whole body listening” and “expected/unexpected behavior.” Teachers worked on helping students identify their feelings and strategies to help manage those feelings through the use of Zones of Regulation which classifies feelings as blue (sad, bored), red (angry, jealous), yellow (worried, excited) and green (happy, proudready to learn). All classrooms had visuals to accompany this language as did the cafeteria and specialist areas. Each classroom also has a designated “safe space” where students can go to de-escalate or take a break if they need it. The sub-separate classroom and general education classroom shared a group of students and worked in unison to provide access to the general education curriculum at all students’ level of understanding: In 2018-2019, three of the students in the sub-separate classroom joined the general education classroom for designated periods of time to begin the inclusion process. The students were accompanied by the classroom teacher and paraprofessional and joined in morning meetings, read alouds and centered activities with their peers. Teachers met to plan activities that would be accessible to all the students in the classroom at their levels of understanding. Parent engagement increased by 10% in school activities and provided specialized parent workshops: In 2018-2019, LFPA established the Parent Engagement Fellowship. A team, consisting of Principal, Lisa Conran; Parent Liaison, Francina Escolastico; K-1 Teacher, Joyce Dunn and K-2 Teacher, Roylee Lovett met with other school teams to delve deeper into exactly what parent engagement versus parent involvement looks like in the school. As a result of this fellowship, LFPA created a new parent/teacher progress report that engages the family in sharing responsibility for student growth; engaged all staff and families in utilizing Class Dojo as another way to communicate with families and have identified a series of workshops that they will present to parents during the next school year LFPA also created a During FY’19, Lawrence High School’s RISE Academy continued their partnership with SISU. As part of the partnership, the RISE and SISU staffs worked together to form a basketball team. Former Central Catholic and Endicott College Basketball standout and RISE Dean of Students, Carlos Nunez, served as head coach for the team. The RISE/SISU basketball team joined the Greater Boston Basketball League where they competed against other Boston area high school club teams. The RISE/ SISU team included both young men and young women enrolled in programming at the SISU Center through RISE, the Lawrence Youth Team, YouthBuildLawrence and the SWAG program. The basketball team provided an opportunity for young people, traditionally blocked from participating in competitive team sports, to develop comradery, team spirit and a positive sense of self. The highlight of their season was a weekend tournament, in partnership with Lawrence’s Suenos Basketball, against a high school team from the Dominican Republic. LAWRENCE PROSPERA FY’2018–2019 ANNUAL REPORT PAGE 10
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