The Board of Education learned at its meeting on August 14 about a new grant earned by the The Afterschool Program (TAP) at Newtown High School. TAP Co-Directors Cathy Ostar and Tim DeJulio explained that the $5,000 SEL (Social/Emotional Learning) Innovation Award For Teachers grant will support a new mindfulness program.

Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue explained TAP is the afternoon program at NHS, and she said the district is pleased the grant was awarded to the program.

“What I’m really personally excited about is it... aligns with a lot of the social/emotional practices that I have been talking about, and that is a major emphasis in the district,” said Dr Rodrigue.

Ms Ostar said that as an alternative high school program, students in TAP can feel disenfranchised, and she is excited for the opportunity the grant will offer.

“We spend a lot of time and effort trying to positively impact individual students while at the same time building their community, and that’s exactly what the money for this grant is,” said Ms Ostar.

The grant will allow the district to train teachers and students to work together to develop mindful practices. Ms Ostar added that the staff trained in the program can also act as “mindfulness ambassadors” for the Newtown Public Schools district.

Through the grant, according to the presentation, one staff member will be trained through a Mindful Educator Essentials course, while six other staff members will be able to take a Mindfulness Fundamentals course. Both courses will be offered through Mindful Schools, which is based in California, as stated on its website, mindfulschools.org. According to Ms Ostar, someone from Mindfulness Schools will present the course to Newtown’s educators. A representative of Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) will also do eight sessions of mindful yoga with students. The CREC Foundation’s website, crec.org, says it is based in Hartford.

According to Ms Ostar, the SEL Innovation Award For Teachers grant was awarded through the NoVo Foundation.

At the meeting, Ms Ostar and Mr DeJulio thanked the district’s Grant Coordinator Kristin Larson for her help in applying for the grant.

Mindfulness, Ms Ostar explained, includes learning how to “be in the moment,” no matter what the student is working on.