South Bend school board approves MOU with Relay/GSE for 2025-26
SOUTH BEND — The South Bend Community School Corp. has signed a contract with a company offering professional development programs for educators, which district administrators say will help ensure all students receive a high-quality education.
Relay Graduate School of Education, or Relay/GSE, provides professional development for educators through “transformative, practice-based programs,” according to the program’s website. It’s an accredited, not-for-profit institution of higher learning, the website says, serving 4,000 teachers and 1,200 school leaders around the country.
On Wednesday, May 29, the SBCSC school board unanimously approved a contract between the district and Relay/GSE for $494,000 for programs throughout the 2025-26 school year. During a previous board meeting, administrators said the district can use Title I and II funding that needs to be spent by Sept. 30 to cover the expenses without touching the 2025-26 budget.
In a presentation given during a May 12 SBCSC school board meeting, Karla Lee, executive director of curriculum and instruction, and Darice Austin-Phillips, executive director of federal funds, said investing in educators’ professional development will help ensure students’ needs are met.
“We know that if a student has a low-performing teacher three years in a row, you can ensure that … it will be very difficult to catch them up,” Austin-Phillips said. “We also know that students who have high-performing teachers will do very well in school.”
She added that though there is an emphasis within SBCSC on intervention among students, there’s a need for more professional development among teachers and principals to create an equitable learning environment for students.
Lee said SBCSC is looking at implementing three Relay/GSE programs — two year-long programs for district managers and principals set to launch in June or July, and a day-long workshop for supporting school leaders. The district will also provide professional learning opportunities for teachers throughout the summer, she said.
“Our theory is that if we provide robust, systemic, professional learning that can be sustained and coached up and provided to all the adults,” Lee said, “then our students will have that equitable learning opportunity which we are all striving for.”
Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Rayleigh Deaton at [email protected].
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