nothin What “Magnet” Means | New Haven Independent

What Magnet” Means


City kids will play Grammar Jammers on the iPad and welcome suburban students into their West Rock classrooms, as New Haven’s first in-house turnaround” school becomes a communications-themed magnet.

Brennan/Rogers School on Wilmot Road has already been undergoing changes this year as a federally and locally sanctioned turnaround school.”

This week, the West Rock-based school learned about its next transformation — into the city’s 18th magnet school, starting in the fall.

At Brennan/Rogers, magnet” means the neighborhood school is opening its doors to kids from surrounding towns, who had to apply through a Project Choice lottery in April. In the lottery, 30 suburban kids applied to go to Brennan; 13 students have been accepted so far, according to a school spokesman. The students will join the school in the fall, as Brennan enters the second year of an ambitious effort to shed its distinction as one of the district’s lowest-performing schools.

The 390 kids currently at the pre-K‑8 school will all be allowed to stay on at the school next year, except of course for the graduating eighth-graders.

In a balloon-filled ceremony Wednesday, students learned what awaits them next fall.

Sitting before the full student body assembled in the gymnasium, Principal Karen Lott announced the news in a mock radio broadcast from WRBR, which stands for We R Brennan Rogers. She revealed that like all magnet schools, Brennan/Rogers will now have a theme: The Art of Communication and Media.”

Third-grader Nia Williams (pictured at the top of this story) recorded the ceremony with an iPad with the help of her teacher, Nikai Sullivan.

The iPad, which made its way around the gym Wednesday, is part of a batch of new technology that’s going to be used for the school’s new theme. The equipment comes thanks to a $9.8 million, three-year federal grant distributed across four magnet schools.

The magnet theme will mean something different in each grade level, explained magnet resource teacher Tracy Peterson.

Kindergarteners will focus on communications through puppets — like Bob,” who made a surprise appearance Wednesday at the hands of Lisa Buckley. Buckley is one of the three people who used to operate the puppet Alf in the eponymous TV series. She was recruited for the event by her friend Michael O’Keefe, a former TV cameraman who’s now serving as a part-time magnet resource teacher at the school. O’Keefe videotaped the puppet performance as seventh-grader Tavon Goodwin held the mic.

Bob” gave kids a lesson in how to disobey the school’s new code of conduct — and apologize nicely.

Cameraman O’Keefe will be on hand next year to integrate the magnet theme and help various grades focus on photography, movies and film and all types of news. The three oldest grades are focusing on the evolution of DJs into VJs, social media use in education, and music formats from 8 tracks to iPods.”

While the magnet transition doesn’t take place until the fall, kids will get an early start focusing on their grade-appropriate communication topics next week, as Lott hands out task cards” to teachers with assignments for each grade.

Meanwhile, kids in the auditorium were getting a head start Wednesday learning new communication skills.

As Kindergartener Jenna Roby learned how to communicate with a snake, under careful supervision from New Haven Parks Ranger Harry Coyle, …

… sixth-grader Jaime Edwards recorded the proceedings on a Flip Cam.

In the audience, third-grade teacher Jennifer Dauphinais passed around an iPad, which Lott gave her classroom last week.

During the assembly, she taught kids how to take photos and videos.

Back in the classroom, Dauphinais has made quick use of the new tool. In morning meetings, kids gathered around and used an app called Grammar Jammers, where kids sing fun songs while unwittingly practicing their nouns, adjectives and verbs. In a social studies lesson, Dauphinais pulled out the iPad so kids could use an interactive map. Other apps focus on phonics and spelling.

The tablet was a hit with her students. After the assembly ended, as kids waited for a late bus to come, one girl asked Dauphinais if they could do some math.

Dauphinais whipped out the iPad with a math application. Six third- and fifth-grade girls, including Jasonie Wicks (pictured), quietly tapped out answers to addition questions and passed the tablet around a circle.

The new technology and the new theme are meant to help engage kids in the curriculum, said Principal Lott.

They’re tech-savvy already,” Lott said. It’s a good theme that will really get them interested and excited.”

Out in the hallway, Janet Garrett (pictured with her grandson, Jayden Shakir) said she’s happy to see the kids getting more resources at the school. Garrett knows the school well: Her daughter, now in the eighth grade, has been there since kindergarten.

And Garrett herself worked there for eight years as a paraprofessional and volleyball coach.

We didn’t have very many resources” when she worked at the school, Garrett recalled. She said when she worked there, it was dropoff central” — a repository for kids from other schools. Any kids that nobody wanted, we got em.”

Garrett lives nearby in Westville Manor, one of three West Rock housing projects that the school was built to serve. She said when she worked at the school, kids would get bored in class, act out, then get suspended and sent home.

I would see kids more outside of school,” roaming around West Rock, than inside the school building, she said. This year, with Principal Lott’s turnaround effort, the atmosphere of the school has improved, she said. It’s a lot calmer.”

And more families are choosing to stick with the school, according to Lott.

Last year, there were 18 kids who opted to leave the neighborhood school by joining a magnet lottery, Lott said. This year, half as many are leaving.

That’s a good sign,” Lott said.

Past stories on the Brennan/Rogers School: 

The Evaluation: Episode Two
• Turnaround Task: Fight Fatigue
Turnaround School Prepares For 1st Test
Parents Prepare To Help Govern” 4 Schools
At Turnaround School, A Reading Push
In Garden, Teachers Tackle Special Ed Challenge
Brennan/Rogers Earns Magnet Status
No Naps For These Kids
Turnaround Team Sets To Work
Two Failing Schools Aim High
West Rock Kids Reap Two-Wheeled Rewards
Brennan/Rogers Prepares For Turnaround

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