October 25, 2022 By Carol Britton Meyer
Although Hingham Public Schools METCO Director Amy Jackson has only been on the job since September, she is not only implementing current initiatives but also coming up with new ones.
Jackson provided an update to the School Committee on Monday. "I am excited to be part of the Hingham Public Schools and to learn more about how we can meet the needs of our METCO students and families," she said.
One of Jackson's goals is to work with the PTO and the Hingham Unity Council to plan a revitalization of the host family program, with a focus on the elementary schools "where the students and families need more support to build connections with other students and families," she said.
The current HPS METCO enrollment is 45 students, including 21 in the elementary schools, 10 at the middle school, and 14 at the high school, including two seniors.
"At the elementary level, I visited with each of the students and have been meeting with the principals," Jackson explained. "I also met with 10 families in Boston, where we were able to generate a list of their needs and plans for the coming school year."
Elementary school enrollment is dependent on available seats. This year, all the new METCO students are kindergarteners. For the next school year, Jackson is requesting that part of the Fiscal 2024 METCO grant be put toward to increasing Hingham METCO enrollment by an additional 30 new students.
"Such an increase would be dependent on the School Committee’s approval and also the state's," she said.
Jackson also started a Hingham METCO Parent Support Group in partnership with New Generations Consultants & Associates, which offers "a confidential safe space for parents to talk about issues they face as their children live and learn in two polar opposite environments."
In partnership with other METCO directors, the Hingham program will conduct a series of workshops during the current school year "to provide helpful information in supporting and advocating for their children," Jackson explained.
The first workshop will center around the FBI Safe Online Surfing Department that focuses on Internet/social media safety and how to monitor a child's devices and keep them safe.
Looking ahead, Jackson is planning a speaker series focused on the college admissions process using "Bottomline," a Boston-based college access program that helps juniors and seniors navigate the college process.
The METCO program is also partnering with the Roxbury Boys & Girls Club, which will provide Hingham's METCO high school students with the opportunity to participate in the Black College Tour, during which they will visit 10 Historically Black Colleges and Universities from Alabama to Washington, D.C. during the April 2023 school break.
Jackson also plans to work with English Director Mary Andrews and Hingham Middle School Principal Derek Smith to bring guest speakers to the schools to address social emotional learning and cultural awareness.
The first guest speaker will be Anthony Valentine from KultureMag next March. KultureMAG "takes ideas and information from a highly-specialized world and translates them into a language students can understand," according to the KultureMAG website.
KultureMAG is also considered to be "a tool to improve classroom behavior, creating better attitudes in students regarding themselves, peers, and school."
In related business, the School Committee accepted three METCO Headquarters mini-grants totaling $4,300 that were awarded to the Hingham METCO program through the efforts of Jackson and Director of Fine Arts Joann Bellis.
These funds will provide for a culturally-oriented school performance through a "Dialogues on Diversity" program. "The purpose of the grant is to fund performing arts (music, poetry, dance, storytelling, theater, and others -- in-person or virtual) that celebrate diversity, cultural difference, social justice, and/or inclusion and will be open to students, parents, teachers, and faculty at an individual school, multiple schools, or district-wide," according to Jackson.
The artist, Len Cabral, offers classroom workshops that focus on storytelling as an art form and facilitates exercises that engage students in the process of telling their own stories, as a precursor to putting them in writing.
School Committee member Nes Correnti told Jackson that she is "in awe of how much you have been able to do since you accepted the position in September. I'm glad that you're talking about getting more families involved and offering a host family [program again]. This will provide more opportunities for the kids to be part of Hingham."
School Committee Chair Michelle Ayer expressed her support for the continuing and new initiatives that are taking place under Jackson's leadership and noted that she thinks the plan to potentially expand the METCO program next year is a good one.
This is such an impressive start! I would love to lend a hand in any way that I can. My child is a senior at HHS. I will email Amy Jackson directly. Welcome!
This is fabulous, however adding 30 students next year concerns me. My child is a Kindergarten student and with 22 children in class and I know many other classrooms are filled to the brim.