Student Grades Are Going Up, Thanks To Wellington’s Keely Spinelli Education Grant Story by Jason Stromberg • Photos by Julie Unger
At Binks Forest Elementary School, children are receiving additional instructional time to assist in closing achievement gaps in reading and math. The students’ self-esteem and academic motivation have increased. In reading, 100 percent of the students in the lowest 25 percentile of test scores improved. In math, 95 percent of the students in that lowest percentile improved their scores. Somewhere up above, Keely Spinelli, the former principal at Binks Forest who passed away after a long battle with cancer in 2008, is smiling. That’s because the Wellington Education Grant named after Spinelli is working hard to help students across the community. “The Keely Spinelli Education Grant has positively impacted Binks Forest Elementary School students in the areas of reading and math,” current Binks Forest Principal Michella Levy said. “Binks was able to hire three qualified tutors to serve students in first grade through fifth grade during the school day.” Since 2013, the Wellington Village Council has allocated $275,000 to provide funding for the 11 public schools in the Village of Wellington to assist
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students in the lowest 25th percentile in reading and math. The Wellington Education Committee is responsible for monitoring and administering the grant. At their meeting in August, committee members will hear from all 11 local schools for 2016-17 grant requests. “Binks Forest is so grateful that we were recipients of the grant,” Levy added. The other 10 schools that have benefited from the Keely Spinelli Education Grant are Elbridge Gale, Equestrian Trails, New Horizons, Panther Run and Wellington elementary schools; Polo Park, Emerald Cove and Wellington Landings middle schools; and Palm Beach Central and Wellington high schools. Each school has used the money to provide additional resources and tutoring to students. “The students really enjoy the nonfiction, high-interest Leveled Literacy
Intervention (LLI) books that are on their specific reading levels,” Levy said. “Leveled Literacy Intervention is used with small reading groups.” Equestrian Trails Elementary School Principal Michele Johnson is also thankful for the Keely Spinelli Education Grant. “The teachers and parents have been greatly impressed with the growth of these students and grateful that this generous grant has been given to these students to succeed,” Johnson said. “I personally did not know Keely, but I can only imagine how much it would mean to her, knowing a grant in her name and honor, made such a difference for struggling readers.” Things weren’t easy at Equestrian Trails before the Spinelli grant was created. “As a non-Title 1 school, we don’t get the teachers to work with our lowest 25th percentile scored students,” Johnson said. “It’s hard. To pull out the small group for instruction is a tough task. These students are now getting the instruction they need that we couldn’t afford previously without the grant.” Spinelli worked as a teacher in the western communities before becoming a principal. The grant is a fitting tribute to an educator who was so dedicated to her craft. Reading and math were near and dear to her heart. “I knew Keely very well,” Elbridge Gale Elementary School Principal Gail Pasterczyk said. “She had a true passion for literacy and was an expert in the field. She would be thrilled to know that her legacy is