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Dothan Brook School
Grade Levels: Pre-Kindergarten-Grade 5
Student Population: 241
Average Class Size (K-5): 14
Number of Classes: : 2 (Pre-K) & 14 (K-5)
Facebook: Dothan Brook School
Principal: Vincent Mascola
The Dothan Brook School’s community of students, staff, and families is committed to fostering academic, social, and emotional growth in a physically and emotionally safe learning environment, and nurturing a sense of belonging in all its members.
At the Dothan Brook School, we place a large emphasis on building relationships and a supportive school community. We know that students who feel a strong connection to their school and teachers experience increased academic success. In support of this core belief the school’s staff is exploring how personal and structural biases impact academic success and the development of a sense of belonging for students from historically marginalized groups. With the goal of fostering a sense of connection and belonging, the school has also successfully started an affinity group for children who identify as a member of the BIPOC community.
In addition, Dothan Brook is proud to be a state Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) leader that continuously seeks innovative ways to create a strong school culture. PBIS schools provide all students with access to a schoolwide program that explicitly teaches and reinforces behavior expectations, intentionally engages students in social and emotional learning, and proactively reflects on school and individual behavior data to match programming to current needs. This year the school’s PBIS team is continuing to work on incorporating student voice into the school’s behavior planning process through the Collaborative Problem Solving framework. Collaborative Problem Solving is a framework for individual behavior planning that builds student agency by including their voice in the process with the ultimate goal of increasing efficiency through increased buy-in.
This year DBS teachers are focused on the implementation of the EL English Language Arts Curriculum. This includes a shift in our approach to reading instruction from guided reading to structured phonics. Structured phonics programs build students' reading skills by teaching them the decoding skills that are required to become fluent readers. In addition, each grade level is working to deepen their knowledge of the EL modules and collaborate around connecting reading and writing instruction to the Hartford community.
Dothan Brook students have access to a wide array of resources and experiences that nurture intellectual curiosity and growth. Some highlights include an outdoor classroom experience in pre-K and 3rd grade; farm-to-school programming in conjunction with Growing Change from Dartmouth College; Drama Club; America Reads and Big Sibs mentors from Dartmouth College; 4th grade BridgeUp program in conjunction with Northern Stage; band in 5th grade, and a pre-K to 5th grade Naturalist in Residence program in partnership with VINS.
