Stimulus Funds Support Trip to Nashville

After three long days of intense professional development and collaboration, twenty-two staff members of Garfield Re2 are ready to help their schools be all they can be, SFA style.

Staff from Wamsley, Kathryn Senor, Highland, Graham Mesa, Elk Creek, and Cactus Valley Elmentaries as well as Rifle and Riverside Middle Schools recently returned from the Success For All Experienced Users Conference held this year in Nashville, Tennessee. This conference is a yearly event for schools across the country that are implementing the Success For All or Reading Edge reform models.

The benefits of attending the conference are many and the participants walked away with new ideas and guidance to take back to their buildings.

“The conference gave us valuable information to refine and improve upon our current reading instruction,” noted participant Dawn Donahue, SFA Facilitator at Kathryn Senor Elementary School. “It also offers trainings to connect our thinking around other district initiatives such as Response to Intervention, Professional Learning Groups, and effective instructional practices.”

Kelly Bina, participating teacher from Highland Elementary School, felt like the connection to others across the country and the validation of what her school is doing made the trip worthwhile. “In more than a few conversations with teachers across the U.S. I was reminded again how fortunate I am to be working in this district. We seem to be so far ahead of many others.”

“Booking and planning an experience like this for the teachers and principals to attend is no small matter,” said Larry Brady, Director of Curriculum and Instruction. “It takes a lot of planning and preparation, most of it between the building secretaries and Dorothy Hutchinson, our district office secretary. Without these dedicated folks, none of this would be possible.”

Paying for a national conference attended by so many staff can offer it’s own challenges as well. But Brady had a little help from an unexpected ally, President Barack Obama.

“The Title I American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) dollars, better known as the stimulus funds, paid for roughly 70% of the total costs,” Brady indicated, “including hotels, flights, meals, and conference registration.” Brady admits that without the support of this additional stimulus money, which the federal government targets for professional development opportunities such as this conference, the chance to attend would be slim to none.

By Larry Brady, Dir. of Curriculum