WARWICK — Following an affirmative vote from the Selectboard this week, Warwick will work with faculty and interns at Antioch University in Keene, N.H., to design a curriculum in advance of reopening the town’s elementary school and to develop a place-based summer learning program.
The Warwick Education Committee hopes to reopen Warwick Community School — independent from the Pioneer Valley Regional School District, which closed the facility last spring — for the fall of 2022. While dates for the summer program are not set yet, Selectboard member Brian Snell said town officials believe it will start one week after the Pioneer school district’s academic year ends this summer.
Priority for the summer program will be open to all school-age children from Warwick, and participating Warwick Community Homeschool Cooperative families. Further attendance will be permitted as space allows. Parents are invited to participate in the summer program with their children as a family, but Snell said there will be volunteers supervising children if parents are unable to attend.
In addition to helping plan the summer programs, Snell said the town has entered an agreement with Antioch University to have an intern help the Warwick Education Committee develop curriculum for place-based and nature-based learning, specific to the Warwick Community School area. Aspects of the summer program may be incorporated with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) learning models to build an academic year curriculum for kindergarten through sixth grade for when the elementary school reopens independently.
“This will give us a model, and something to state what our intent and style of learning will be,” Snell explained.
Snell worked alongside Warwick Arts Council and Warwick Education Committee member Janice Starmer who applied for and received a $3,875 grant through the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Additionally, the town allocated another $1,200. Starmer said the money will be used to fund Antioch University’s consulting coordination and planning support.
“It will be touching on place-based learning, and also environmental studies,” Starmer said of the future curriculum. “Creative expression will be a part of it … and it will include more than environmental studies, like humanities, math and lit, and all the skills kids need.”
At the end of the summer program, because the grant comes from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Starmer explained there is a requirement to hold an exhibit showcasing the students’ creative and academic works.“Getting a grant this size, it’s a pretty big deal,” she said. “If not for COVID, the money would likely go out to smaller events and performances. … In lieu of that, this hits the high points of cultural council grants with focus on sciences, humanities and arts.”
Starmer said developing a summer program will be especially important as many young students have continued the academic year through remote learning models. She said it’s important for elementary-age and middle-school-age students to develop friendships and work together, in person.
The summer program will be divided into two sessions, with three days of programs held each week for three weeks. The first session will focus on aquatic zones and biome systems in the Warwick Community School campus and nearby Mount Grace State Forest. The second session will focus on forest zones.
For both sessions, the first week will see families participate in group exploration of the plant and animal life in each zone. They will learn how to use tools, terminology, and methods of exploration and study, such as annotated scientific sketching and journaling. The second week will focus on developing a research topic, conservation efforts, and the historic, current and possible future human impact on forest environments. The third week will involve completing the research topics, and students will develop an “artistic representation” of their studies for a “learning walk experience.”
According to the draft agreement with Antioch University, Warwick is also negotiating for the university to provide continued support for teacher and parent training. It is anticipated the relationship with Antioch University will continue over the first few years of opening the independent school.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.