At the most recent Board of Education meeting, Monday, November 28, the principals of the local middle schools, Ms. Murphy of Orange Avenue School and Mr. Deacon of Hillside Avenue School, gave a presentation regarding the newly implemented Enrichment and Intervention period added to student schedules this year.

The Enrichment and Intervention (EI) period is a ninth class period at the end of each middle schooler’s day where they can participate in various enrichment activities and clubs or meet with teachers or other students for extra help. First implemented in September of this year, the EI period appears to be a resounding success, as evident in survey results taken from students and teachers at both schools. Teachers have seen a dramatic increase in the number of students willing to come to them for extra help, and students expressed enjoyment of the activities offered and the spare time to complete homework before after-school extracurriculars. 

The principals continue to work out kinks in the system. They have recently added new virtual visits from traveling teachers who may not be at one school at the end of the day. They additionally continue to improve the ease with which students can visit teachers, and they plan to add new enrichment activities soon, working with the high school to continue their new math league, add a dance program, and create a film club. 

Overall, the program seems to have gotten off to a successful start, and Mr. Deacon expressed a plan to conduct two more surveys throughout the year to continue to keep an eye on how the program is doing.