September 2020 Back-to-School Update
Dear May Center Community,
Here we are at the beginning of a new school year. And what a year 2020 has been! For all of us, life has changed dramatically in ways that we would never have imagined last September. I am so proud of the way our May Center community responded to the unprecedented circumstances of 2020. May School pivoted successfully to complete the school year online, with all students receiving Chromebooks to work from home through synchronous, effective online learning. As is our practice, we used this opportunity to learn what works and what doesn’t—asking ourselves, “What do we do well and how does that translate to the online platform?” Through dynamic professional learning communities, meaningful feedback from parents and students, and engagement with the local and national educational community, we not only found our way through the remote learning platform, we built a place for May Center’s pedagogy and philosophy to thrive. I am grateful to our dedicated, skilled faculty and administrative team whose Herculean efforts have resulted in May Center once again being a leader in our field in developing best practices for teaching students with learning differences—this time, online.
I’m inspired and also a bit relieved to have the opportunity to share a bit with you about what we’ve come through the last several months, what we’ve learned in the process, and what we’ve accomplished, including the development of our new remote learning program, May Away. As I look ahead, one thing I am certain about this coming school year is that it will be one like no other we’ve ever been through. Another thing I’m certain about is that May Center for Learning’s vision to impact and access every child with learning differences in New Mexico has never been stronger. We are grateful to our community for supporting us through this challenging time, and we look forward to seeing our students (both in person and online) soon.
May Away
When COVID-19 hit, May School teachers were faced with a seemingly insurmountable task: replicate the multi-sensory, individualized, executive-functioning skills supporting environment of May School’s classrooms in the virtual world. And do it in a matter of days.
We already knew that May School teachers were leaders—experts in their field, flexible, responsive to individual student needs, and intensely committed to their work. Even so, in this time of crisis, May School teachers demonstrated a level of resilience and innovation that went above and beyond what was expected. Here are some quotes from May School parents during this time:
“The May Center teachers exceeded my expectations! Very happy with the content, organization and teacher assistance of the online program.”
“I felt that my child’s individual educational needs were fully met. The May Center built a program around what she needed and that is hard to find elsewhere.”
“Thank you May Center, for providing an excellent educational experience for my son during this difficult time. The consistency, structure, and dynamic interaction with the teacher have all been fantastic.”
We had an opportunity to take what was developed under fire in the spring and refine and perfect it during our 2020 Summer LEAP program. 24 students participated in our online LEAP program, in which gave teachers the opportunity to pilot our new online pedagogical framework and curriculum. The success of this program led to 6 additional students enrolling in May School. It also has led to the development of a new May Center service: May Away.
May Away is designed for students who are homeschooling or who are looking for ways to supplement the remote learning that their school is offering. Our May Away classes meet in small cohorts of no more than 4 students, 4 days a week. This intimate online setting allows May Away teachers to apply the same individualized approach to support skill development that we use in our May School classrooms. May Away classes not only focus on academic skills, they also build the executive functioning skills that are so necessary for success in school and in life. Our first cohort of May Away classes begins September 14. Students from Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and the states of Colorado, Florida, and Texas will attend.
May Center/New Mexico Public Education Department Partnership
Summer 2020 was a busy one for May Center! We spent much of the summer working on an important new online course that will greatly extend our reach as we strive to access and impact every student with learning differences in New Mexico.
May Center for Learning is proud to partner with the New Mexico Public Education Department to present an online course available now through the PED website to all educators in New Mexico. “Structured Literacy and Dyslexia 101” is a 5 unit course developed and presented by May Center Executive Director, Amy Miller and May Center Teacher Training Partner Jessica Powell, CALT. This course, as well as the new New Mexico Dyslexia Handbook, are in support of New Mexico’s Dyslexia Early Interventions law, which mandates that all first graders are screened for dyslexia and that all elementary teachers receive training in the science of reading and Structured Literacy teaching. Amy Miller also sits on the New Mexico PED’s Structured Literacy Working Group, which produced the Dyslexia Handbook and advises the PED on the implementation of this crucial initiative. Other states, including Mississippi, that have implemented similar laws have seen a dramatic increase in reading scores for ALL students, including those with dyslexia and related learning differences.
May Center Matching Fundraising Campaign
We are so grateful to our May Center community for supporting our work, especially during these challenging times. Thanks to our generous matchers, we raised over $136,000 in just 24 hours this past June to support our financial aid and community outreach efforts. Thank you so much to all who gave. Thanks to your generosity, 49% of May School students are receiving financial aid this school year. This is up from 43% last school year.
Transitions: Farewells and Welcome to our New Faculty and Board Members
2020 has certainly been a year of change, and we have had some transitions in our faculty and staff community as well. We are grateful to Heidi Schmidt for her inspiring commitment to her growing our tutoring, community engagement, and evaluation programs during her years as Director of Community Engagement. While Heidi will no longer be serving in this role, we hope to keep her in our community as a diagnostician. Thank you, Heidi, for your belief in May Center’s mission and your hard work.
We also bid a fond farewell to May School teachers Marjorie Hanus, Linda Archibald, Kitty Broadbent, and Melia Lewis. We are grateful for their contributions to our community and we wish them well in their future endeavors. May School teacher Megan Rosker has transitioned to remote tutoring with us as she has recently moved to Albuquerque. We’re so glad Megan will be remaining in our community.
We are thrilled to welcome our new May School teachers. Gabriella Masoni, Intermediate Language Arts teacher, comes to us most recently from years of teaching social studies and language at Desert Academy. Her passion for arts integration makes her a great fit for our pedagogical approach. Deanna Bradford, Intermediate Math and Science teacher, comes to us with 25 years of experience in special education and a passion for teaching science. Brett Barker, Intermediate Online teacher, comes to us with 25 years of experience teaching elementary and middle school students. Brett specializes in learning with the whole child, bringing creative and fresh ideas to her instruction, focusing on individual strengths to insure student success.
May Center is also pleased to welcome two new board members. MaryIrene Stevens brings much experience with nonprofit boards to May Center. She has served as a Regent for New Mexico Military Institute, President of the Roswell Chamber of Commerce, President of the Roswell Symphony Orchestra Board and Roswell Symphony Foundation Board and served on the Board of New Mexico First and the Santa Fe Opera. Sue Baum comes to May Center with a personal passion for the field of learning differences, having both a son and a husband with learning differences. Sue’s career in public service and nonprofit work is varied. Sue was the mayor of Creve Coeur, MO, where she also served as a city council member. She has worked as a nonprofit consultant for many national nonprofits, including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. We welcome our new faculty and board members, and we extend a warm welcome to all new families who are joining May Center for the first time this school year!