Looking for more than ‘a Band-Aid’

SPRINGBROOK Elementary School is a part of Westerly’s North End neighborhood, where 53 percent of students were eligible for subsidized lunch last year. / COURTESY FEDERAL RESERVE
SPRINGBROOK Elementary School is a part of Westerly’s North End neighborhood, where 53 percent of students were eligible for subsidized lunch last year. / COURTESY FEDERAL RESERVE

Problem: Beachcombers who frequent Westerly’s coastline might not get to see the North End neighborhood, which is struggling. Last school year, more than 53 percent of students attending Springbrook Elementary were eligible for subsidized lunch – and the Westerly Working Cities team says many did not demonstrate adequate academic performance.

Pitch: To bridge the North End neighborhood to the downtown and improve the economic opportunities for residents by raising educational levels and developing the workforce.

AMY GRZYBOWSKI, director of development services for Westerly, is one of the leaders of the team. She says the timing is good because it coincides with the effort already being made on the Westerly Higher Education and Job Skills Center, in collaboration with the Community College of Rhode Island. The center, created through a partnership with local business leaders, is a 17-classroom facility that will accommodate up to 1,000 students a year, according to the state.

Grzybowski believes improving economic opportunities for adults will effectively benefit the students and subsequently the schools.

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“The North End is a low-income census track and is more of a distressed area than the other parts of town, but the center is right on the edge of downtown and it’s going to be built,” Grzybowski said. “If you put parents to work and address other issues, it will get students to do better in the classrooms. We don’t want just a Band-Aid solution. We want to fix it for the long term.” •

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