After an eclectic winter, we’re ready to March into spring. (and back into schools!) As the district introduces a new hybrid schedule, we’re beginning to adjust in turn.

When the district reopened remotely for the fall semester last year, we provided support for remote learning for the late morning through the end of the school day. In order to provide better support, facilitate better participation, and avert disruptions, we expanded our hours of operation to completely encompass the childrens’ school days. Since implementing this latest schedule, daily attendance has improved, as well as the kids’ classroom engagement. Currently, we have a mix of students who are in school every day, students who elected to stick with remote learning, and students who are now starting to attend every other week. We will continue to monitor the situation and adapt as best we can to best serve the community.

Outside of supporting remote learning, we’ve continued to provide meals through the day, opportunities to move, (especially with the BOKS program!) as well as a host of creative and educational activities. A big thanks goes towards Melissa Shield for the bagel donations, as well as the Y and Lovin’ Spoonfuls for continued meal support. The group made Valentine’s day cards for each other, as well as Finnley Silva, whom they’d previously written birthday cards for in the month prior. Over the break, they made snowmen! Other activity highlights have included snow globes, mobiles, craft-stick houses, and code bracelets.

The Interfaith site is now reopened! We’d like to thank the work of many donors and volunteers, including the Giblin family to whom the new site is dedicated, the support of the YMCA who helped with certification, and countless hours of hard work the Interfaith crew have put in to making the center what it is now. Congratulations! The site looks great, and it’s been fantastic seeing the kids learning there. We’ve already began implementing activities and routines developed at Pusan during the closure, including the BOKS program that Ken already headed, remote tutoring with Babson students coordinated through Becky, as well as craft and STEM activities, including snow globes and a fun magnetic field activity.

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve enrolled two new students at the Pusan center, as well as three at Interfaith in the short time it’s been open! We will continue to work towards fulfilling our capacity within COVID guidelines. (Eight more at Interfaith!) We’re also pleased to welcome our incoming program director, Kevin Lopez. We look forward to having him nearby in our new Director’s Office at the Interfaith site. There’s been a lot of change both at Hoops and in the district; while challenging, we’ve been working hard to improve the programs and meet needs during uncertainty. Thank you again for your support, and we’ll see you next time!

-The Hoops and Homework Team