A new course coming to Beach Middle School was created after seeing some needs coming out of the COVID era.

At the Nov. 18 Chelsea School District Board of Education meeting the new course was introduced. It will be formally introduced as an opportunity for students during the 2025-26 school year.

In his report to the school board and district administration, Matt Ceo, Principal at Beach Middle School, said the middle school’s course offerings for the 25-26 school year will be similar to the current offerings except for one addition called the “Beach Block.”

“This weekly 30-minute segment of time is dedicated to school-wide Executive Functioning education,” Ceo said in his report. “The Student Services Team (SST) at Beach is composed of counselors, a school social worker, school psychologist, assistant principal, principal, Project Success Coordinator, and Mental Health Health Coordinator. The SST has adapted the curriculum from the SMARTS program. Students learn a variety of tools that assist with organization, categorization, self-regulation, and prioritization of tasks.”

To learn more about this, the Sun Times News (STN) followed up with Ceo and Adam Schilt.

In providing some explanation, Ceo said, “This initiative started by Adam Schilt (Assistant Principal at Beach) and our Student Services Team (SST) has been a goal in-the-making for almost two years.”

“Adam’s leadership, vision, and follow-through have brought this authentic and targeted learning into fruition,” Ceo said. “We surveyed students, teachers, and parents after coming out of COVID two years ago, and the skill identified as the one needing the most attention was ‘self-directed’. Teachers pointed to the lack of executive functioning skills since the pandemic, so our SST researched, piloted, and implemented the SMARTS curriculum to help our students get back on track. We are early on in the process, but we have already gathered great data and look forward to continuing!”

Schilt said Beach Block is based on an “advisory” model in which students have a 35-minute period at the end of the day on Wednesdays. He said this period rotates between grade-wide community meetings, time for additional help with homework and difficult concepts, and time set aside for community building and physical activity. Each Wednesday, the classes rotate which grade is doing what, he said.

STN asked who this is for.

“The concept is first and foremost for our students,” Schilt said. “Staff identified executive functioning as an area of need–including goal setting, time management, organization, flexibility with shifting expectations, etc.”

An added bonus of the Beach Block schedule, Schilt said, “is that it provides additional time for teachers at each of our grade levels to meet as a team to discuss how best to meet the needs of students, and it even allows some extra time for physical activity and camaraderie, both of which we know are essential to students’ academic performance and mental health.”

He said Beach Block “allows our Student Services Team, composed of administrators, counselors, our school psychologist, our school social worker, and our district youth mental health coordinator, to lead monthly community meetings with each grade targeted toward these aims, building off the foundation of a research-based executive functioning curriculum for middle school students.”

In answering what their hopes are for this, Schilt said, “Our goals for Beach Block are that a) students expand their repertoire of tools to help them become more confident, organized, and prepared for success and b) peer relationships are strengthened through our focus on community building.”

Photo courtesy of the Chelsea School District