| Salem State College
This comprehensive, urban public college has a historic commitment to education and the human services, even as it has expanded to provide a comprehensive liberal arts education to students in Massachusetts and the region. Its mission statement describes its intention to participate fully in the life of its service area, Boston’s North Shore and northeastern Massachusetts. A college-wide Office of Community Service- Learning works with faculty across all disciplines to enable students to link their academic study with service in area communities. Directly participating in the Educational Village Project are the Schools of Human Services, including the Schools of Education, Social Work, and Nursing.
The School of Education is accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), a voluntary and elite designation shared by only a few colleges in Massachusetts. It offers a full range of teacher education programs at undergraduate and graduate levels. The project has at its disposal college faculty expertise in all curriculum areas, as well as in Teaching English as a Second Language and Bilingual Education, Reading, Educational Leadership, Special Education, and School Counseling. The School offers an annual Reading Clinic for area children, a summer enrichment program for talented youth (SEA: Starting Early at Salem State), an up-to-date Education Computer Lab, a Global Education Center, and a well-stocked Educational Resource Library/Instructional Design Lab. Our two Laboratory Schools—the Horace Mann and the Saltonstall School—demonstrate to students and to the public state-of-the-art curriculum and instruction, and our Preschool is nationally accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Salem State’s School of Education is the only college PALMS (Partnership for the Advancement of Learning in Math and Science) NSF-linked training site in the state; as such, it is part of a network of PALMS-trained teachers who provide professional development in “best practices” in math, science and technology education, and standards-based teaching in general. Plans for the professional development component of this project include teacher-to-teacher mentoring using the staff of Salem State’s laboratory schools and the network of PALMS-trained teacher-leaders.
The School of Social Work offers the only public Master of Social Work program in the state along with its baccalaureate B.S.W. and Advanced Standing programs. The School is nationally accredited by the Council for Social Work Education. The School prepares students as Advanced Generalists, the only such program in the Commonwealth, and offers concentration in all areas of social work, including gerontology. Although our baccalaureate program has been existence for many years, the M.S.W. program is only ten years old, but has already earned a reputation as one of the best, and most selective, among M.S.W. programs in the state. Members of the Social Work faculty are active in national professional organizations, regional associations, and on local community boards. One member directs the Schools of Human Services’ Center for Applied Research and Development, whose mission is to support interdisciplinary research, programming, and education across the fields of Education, Social Work, Nursing and Criminal Justice. Under development within the C.A.R.D. Center is the Institute for Family and Community Education Partnerships described below in Dr. Breitborde’s biographical sketch.
The School of Nursing offers bachelors’ (B.S.) and masters’ (M.S.N) degrees in Nursing, as well as an RN-to-BSN transfer program. The School is nationally accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, as well as being fully approved by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing. Its programs prepare beginning and advanced students for a variety of health care settings for people of all ages and lifestyles. Building upon a substantial foundation in the arts and sciences, the program considers the wholeness and uniqueness of individuals with diverse backgrounds, life experiences, and values. Faculty in the School of Nursing have presented at national conferences and published in professional nursing journals. Their research interests include, but are not limited to, adolescent health, maternal-child health, and health education. The School contributes to community health care by placing students in clinical experiences in area hospitals, community health agencies, and institutions such as youth facilities, schools, and prisons.
The Lynn Family Support Coalition is a grass-roots organization created with the support of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services to plan and implement activities to strengthen families in the Highlands area of Lynn. The Highlands has the highest rates of poverty, child abuse, substance abuse, public dependence, illiteracy, teen pregnancy and dropout rates, and unemployment in a city victimized by economic hardship and human despair. Comprised of neighborhood residents, the Coalition has received DSS funding for food-distribution programs; neighborhood festivals; family outings; GED, ESL and citizenship classes; and summer recreational programs; as well as educational programs for children and their families carried out in collaboration with Salem State College. Representatives of the Coalition attend regional and statewide meetings on social service policies and programs with a special focus on family preservation. The “heart of the Highlands neighborhood is the Ford School; although two smaller elementary schools and a middle school serve Highlands children, most Coalition activities are centered at Ford and are open to all Highlands families. Beginning with fiscal 2000, DSS will fund a professional coordinator to serve the Coalition and will no longer provide funds for programs.
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| Key Personnel:
Dr. Mary-Lou Breitborde serves the Partnership for an Educational Village as its Project Director. Professor of Education and Department Chair at Salem State College. Dr. Breitborde is co-author of Educating the Global Village: The Child in the World (Merrill/Prentice-Hall, 1999), as well as several articles, book chapters, and curricula on social education, multicultural education, and literacy. She is a former teacher of elementary, middle and high school students and was a consultant to the Boston Public Schools on curriculum change during school desegregation. She has presented nationally and internationally at conferences of the Association for Childhood Education International, the World Congress of Comparative and International Education Societies, the Eastern Educational Research Association, and other professional organizations. She has received awards for excellence from Pi Lambda Theta and from Salem State College. Dr. Breitborde has collaborated with Salem State social work professors and teachers on research and development projects at the Ford Elementary School for the past six years, and has directed the "FASST" (Ford and Salem State Together) project to offer after-school clubs on campus to Ford School children led by SSC college students, as well as adult education programs for Ford families. She is currently establishing an interdisciplinary Institute for Family and Community Education Partnerships at Salem State College. She earned her doctoral degree in Humanistic and Behavioral Studies from Boston University's School of Education in 1981, her masters there in 1976, and her Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Wheaton College in 1970. In addition, she did graduate work in the School of Social Welfare at the University of California in 1970-71.
Dr. Claire Crane is the Principal of the Ford Elementary School, where she has developed a "Village School" model of integrated family education and social services. Dr. Crane has succeeded in moving the Ford School from its position as the lowest-performing school in the city to its current status as the highest-performing among Lynn's large urban elementary schools (Lynn schools also include more "suburban" schools.) She has secured important volunteer support from Lynn businesses and community agencies; among these, a local law firm, the Community Minority Cultural Center, Girls Inc., the Lynn Community Health Center, and My Brother's Table food pantry. Dr. Crane's school hosts evening GED, ESL and citizenship classes for adults with child care available to participants, and a Summer School for remedial academic help. She was instrumental in establishing the Lynn Family Support Coalition, which is based in the school, and serves on its board. Dr. Crane has bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in Education from Salem State and Boston State Colleges and Nova Southeastern University, with additional graduate credits from Boston University, Yale University, and the University of Massachusetts. She is also a licensed social worker and is certified as a guidance and special education director, school psychologist, elementary teacher and principal. Her former positions include Director of Special Education, Acting Assistant Superintendent, and school adjustment counselor. She has been an Adjunct Professor of Psychology and Education at Salem State College for several years. Dr. Crane sits on several community boards in Lynn, including Project Cope, the Youth Resource Bureau, and the Family and Children's Services Board. She is the recipient of several awards from Girls' Inc., the state Dept. of Mental Health, and Salem State College, and received a Safe and Drug Free School Award in Washington, with a return visit to the school from Hillary Clinton. Dr. Crane serves on the Steering Committee of the project and participates in all aspects of project activities.
Ms. Susan MacNeil serves this project as Programs Manager. She has twenty years of experience in program development and implementation. She has managed projects for the state's Department of Public Welfare (now Dept. of Transitional Assistance), Community Action Agencies in Gloucester, Beverly, and Malden, and for private nonprofit organizations. Her educational experience includes education program coordination for the Gloucester Adventure, Inc. and for several grant-funded projects for Salem State College. She coordinates the college's Rainbow Terrace after-school programs, the Ford-Salem State "FASST" program of after-school clubs and serves as consultant to Salem State's Gloucester Center on educational and community development projects. She is currently serving the Lynn Family Support Coalition as its professional representative and will coordinate Salem State's new Institute for Family and Community Education Partnerships under the Schools of Human Services.
Ms. Mary Byrne is lead Social Work faculty consultant to the project. She is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Salem State, where she is Field Experience Coordinator. Ms. Byrne is a founding member of Project Family Map, a network of state agency personnel concerned with communication and collaboration in service delivery and professional training... Ms. Byrne has an M.S.W. degree from the University of Chicago and is currently completing her Ph.D. in Social Work at Boston College. She is the author and recipient of two federal grants: one, Project Family Map, which trains Department of Social Services social works and transition assistants to meet the needs of families impacted by welfare reform; the other, the Child Welfare Scholars Program, which recruits and educates minority social service workers. She has presented nationally at such conferences as the Council for Social Work Education and the National Child Welfare Training Group, and is founder and advisor to the Massachusetts Association of Family Based Services, serves on the board of the New England Consortium of Family Based Agencies, and on the Steering Committee of Help for Abused Women and Children, a multi-service domestic violence agency in Salem.
Ms. Beverly White, who serves on the Steering Committee, supervises Nursing students at the Ford School, and will co-teach the Interprofessional Summer Institute, is Associate Professor of Nursing at Salem State College. She has Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Boston College, with graduate work in Community Health Program Evaluation. She has an additional 45 credits in Education from Boston University. At the colleges, she teaches courses in public health and coordinates the community health component of the RN-to-BSN Program. As a clinical specialist in public health nursing, she precepts undergraduate and graduate nursing students in area community health centers, hospitals, Department of Social Services offices, Department of Youth Service settings, and area prisons. Ms. White serves the community of Lynn on its Community Health Assessment Task Force. She has been on the Board of Directors of Lynn Community Health and Counseling, and has developed health education curricula for several Lynn schools as well as for schools in Gloucester and Lawrence. She is a member of the Public Health Nurses Association, the state School Nurse Association, and the Society of Adolescent Medicine. She was a past co-recipient of a Mass. Department of Education grant to explore comprehensive education on the North Shore.
Ms. Lisa Connolly, who serves on the Steering Committee of the project, is President of the Lynn Family Support Coalition and a parent of children at the Ford School and Lynn English High School. Ms. Connolly has led the Coalition in furnishing funding for the Ford School's GED and ESL classes, for the FASST program, and for the many educational and social support programs it provides for Highlands families. She has held positions as an early childhood teacher's assistant and as waitstaff in area restaurants. Largely because of her involvement in the Coalition and with the Ford School, she has enrolled at Salem State College to continue her education toward a bachelors degree with a double major in Education and Social Work. She has an Associate's Degree in Design from Chamberlain Junior College. Ms. Connolly is a neighborhood leader, who represents the Highlands community and advocates for its needs in city government and school committee meetings. She is on the board of Lynn's Adult Basic Education Task Force and is a member of the citywide After-School Program Planning Committee. She presented the Ford "village school" model at the annual meeting of the state Department of Social Services' Family Support Coalition in 1999, and will participate as a co-presenter at the Association of Childhood Education International conference in Baltimore in April, 2000, with Drs. Breitborde and Crane and Ms. MacNeil.
Steering Committee:
Planning, development, and oversight for the Partnership for an Educational Village is accomplished by a Project Steering Committee which includes Dr. Breitborde, Dr. Crane, Ms. MacNeil, Ms. Byrne, Ms. Connolly, Ms. Mary DeChillo (Adjunct Professor of Social Work at Salem State College), Dr. Beverly White (Associate Professor of Nursing at Salem State College, Ms. Barbara Kelly (Vice Principal of the Ford School), Ms. Penny Bix (Reading Specialist at the Ford School), Lori Berry of Lynn Community Health, Girls' Inc., Calvin Young of Lynn Community Minority Cultural Center, Ms. Kathy Brings (Salem State Social Work field supervisor), Dr. Fred Cole, Director of the Lynn Business-School Foundation and Dr. Diane Lapkin, Dean of SSC's Schools of Human Services.
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