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Michael Emery would enroll as a freshman years later, after hearing good things from friends. #How to calculate percentage in openoffice calc full#But after the first school year, the school was able to achieve full enrollment “just from word of mouth,” Nash says, with parents raving about the welcoming environment and sense of community. ![]() #How to calculate percentage in openoffice calc free#As an incentive, the school offered extended free before- and after-school programming. Parents of general education students were initially reluctant to enroll their children, Nash says, because of concerns about disruptive behavior. We had to be the best teachers because it was very, very difficult work.” “Our goal was to teach better than any public school anywhere,” Nash says. All teachers are trained in both general and special education, and each classroom has either a special education paraprofessional - an “assistant teacher” - or a second lead teacher. The initial format at the new Boston school - small classes where one-third of the students had emotional and behavioral disabilities - was based on a gut instinct, Nash says. Mary Nash, who later went on to serve eight years as a superintendent in Maine before retiring, set out to change the paradigm. ![]() In Boston, they may also end up at the McKinley Schools, a group of special education schools s o challenged that they are specifically targeted by the recently-imposed state improvement plan. Students with such diagnoses are often enrolled in segregated, private schools. The umbrella term “emotional and behavioral disabilities” can include anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, and severe ADHD. “There was a lot of concern that they would ‘contaminate’ the regular ed environment with bad behaviors.” There weren’t the supports needed for students to succeed and thrive,” Nash recalls. “It was very difficult moving students back into the regular education setting. #How to calculate percentage in openoffice calc how to#This was another scary thing, and they know how to deal with it. “They deal with really scary stuff sometimes. “That is what makes the Mary Lyon special,” says Elaine Meehan, a parent of a student at the school. While other schools were trying to figure out how their students’ home lives affected their ability to attend Zoom classes, Lyon staffers already had parents’ phone numbers, knew which families lived close together, and could lean on engaged students to help their less-engaged peers stay connected. Leaders at the school attribute their success to a community-based approach that pre-dates the pandemic. The result was nothing short of remarkable, validating the Mary Lyon’s approach - and offering a model for the district as it attempts to recover from the pandemic and transition to district-wide inclusive education. The same check-ins were expected of him: When his ninth-grade mentee - who he was paired with through a peer leadership program - was missing, the student would hear from Emery.Īgainst all odds, the Mary Lyon was mobilizing, leaning on the community-based structures and inclusive philosophy that make the school a unique experience in the Boston Public Schools system. When Emery was missing from a Zoom class, he would get a call from someone at the school. Similarly, the Mary Lyon itself could have gone down the path of so many other schools during the pandemic: plummeting attendance and academic outcomes, especially among high needs groups such as low-income students, English learners, students with disabilities, and students of color.īut then, something happened. ![]() A “full inclusion school,” the Mary Lyon was built to give all students - those with special needs, particularly emotional and behavioral disabilities, and those without - the best possible chance to learn in a supportive, integrated environment.īut with each skipped class, Emery’s social and academic progress went further into jeopardy. ![]() A tightly knit community, including educators, parents, and peers, was there to help. That was the kind of school the Mary Lyon was, Emery would be reminded in his junior year. Emery got back on track, building strong relationships with teachers and social workers and becoming a standout in basketball and football. Back then, a social worker at the Mary Lyon - where more than a third of the students have special needs - intervened, helping Emery see himself as a young man with leadership potential. Such a path would have been disastrous for Emery, who, during his freshman year, went through a similar stretch of cutting class. ![]()
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