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Principal Ethan d'Ablemont Burnes watches as a student shares her stuffed animal with Betsy Nabel.
Sponsored by the Boston Plan for Excellence, the Principal for a Day program provides community leaders with a rich view of how K–12 schools operate and aims to forge relationships that will help support and strengthen school improvement.
As part of this program, BWH President Betsy Nabel, MD, recently learned a few lessons on how things work at the Joseph P. Manning Elementary School in Jamaica Plain.
Nabel spent the morning speaking with fourth- and fifth-grade teachers and accompanying principal Ethan d'Ablemont Burnes on visits to each classroom, where students chatted with her and eagerly introduced two special members of Mrs. Trager's kindergarten class: pet turtles named Squirt and Buttercup.
About 150 students attend pre-kindergarten through fifth grade at the school, which is located near Faulkner Hospital.
"This was an excellent opportunity to speak with teachers about education in general, including MCAS testing and their teaching methods, as well as the remarkable inclusion program for special needs students that the Manning School provides," Nabel said. "I sincerely enjoyed speaking with many young students, including a hard-working second-grader who informed me that she has set her sights on becoming a doctor."
She added, "The Brigham is part of a wonderfully vital community that is inextricably linked with the success of our public schools and the civic activities that support these schools. I look forward to participating in these and other kinds of programs that shape how schools and communities can together address children's educational and development needs and quality education as a whole."
Community service is an important component of BWH's mission. BWH's Human Resources and the Center for Community Health and Health Equity partner with many Boston schools to offer internships and mentorship at BWH for students interested in health care careers.
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