October President’s Message
It is time to pause and consider what we are grateful for as we move into the season of thanksgiving. To start with, this is my first term as the president of the CLASP board of directors. I am very grateful to have been asked to serve this wonderful organization. Even after a short amount of involvement, the number of people working with CLASP who inspire gratitude has become quite large. In particular, none of what CLASP accomplishes would be possible without our tutors. A small group of board members along with Program Director Cristina Antoniolli, spent the last few years speaking with tutors to better understand the ways in which they make a difference to our students. Through these interviews we learned about the diverse needs our students have, as well as things that tutors thought would help them to be more effective.
One of the key questions that came up was how we can work more closely with the Claremont School District (CUSD) to get better information about our students’ academic strengths and challenges. The district has always been a steadfast partner. Two district representatives sit on the CLASP board, currently Trustee Richard O’Neill and Assistant Superintendent for Student Services Kevin Ward. Moreover, the district generously provides CLASP with an annual grant that helps to pay our operating expenses.
The priority to learn more about the academic and other needs of the students we serve led to several conversations with Superintendent James Elsasser and Assistant Superintendent Julie Olesniewicz. As a result, we began working on a process whereby CUSD provides CLASP, with parental consent, the diagnostic information the district collects about students’ math and language skills. Most importantly, this information is linked to “Next Steps”—the focused exercises our tutors could use as they work with students. Although this effort is still in the early stages of planning, its potential to help CLASP develop child-specific action plans is huge. CLASP will always be here to help students complete homework, but with better information and planning, we may be able to address some of the underlying issues that cause students to have difficulty with these assignments. So, with hope and gratitude, I write this to express my thanks to the CUSD staff members who are helping to make this vision possible. Along with those already mentioned, we are especially grateful for our partners in CUSD’s Educational Services Department, including Natalie Taylor Barbiera, Rria Cruz Soto, and Megan O’Mahony. We indeed have a lot to be thankful for.
If you would like to comment about ways to improve the tutoring experience, or anything else about CLASP, please contact me.