The Brown School PTO to use $21,000 Entirely Towards Enrichment Programs

Marblehead’s newest school, The Brown School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) received $21,000 from the Magic Hat Thrift Shop.

“This year, we will continue to fund an incredible garden program at Brown. Led by local nature educator Holly Hannaway, the garden program gives students a chance to get their hands dirty in one of the many Brown School Garden beds, while learning about science, nature, ecology, and sustainability,” said Abby Lewis, co-president of Brown School PTO.

The enrichment committee recently brought Wingmasters to Brown School for hands-on lessons about birds of prey. They Planned enrichment programming for this year including a visit from the Whalemobile (a life-size inflatable humpback whale), author visits, programming about important women in history, and the ever-popular skills for life program from Ooch.

The Brown School opened its doors on Oct.13th, 2021, and is facing the same challenges every public school is facing nationwide based on post-pandemic education, the complex social-emotional needs of children, teacher burnout, and chronic underfunding of public education.

“The PTO works to ease those challenges by funding supplemental classroom resources and supplies, helping show teachers and staff the community’s appreciation with regular staff appreciation events, funding a series of mindfulness sessions for every classroom, and working closely with our principal and staff to ensure that the PTO’s resources are deployed in a way that effectively supports the work of the amazing educators at the Brown School,” said Lewis.

“Our specific goals for this year are to support our new school community; teachers and staff, and the new Brown School principal, Mary Maxfield, as they continue to create a Brown School culture. We are also striving to enrich the student’s experience and cultivate school spirit through community events like last week’s Monster Mash, spirit wear drives and in the spring our Fun Run, our biggest fundraiser for the year,” said Lewis.