District Unveils "Elmsford Basics" Initiative

The Elmsford Union Free School District officially launched a new initiative called the “Elmsford Basics” at a joint school district/village board meeting Oct. 4.

The program, based on the Boston Basics and founded by Dr. Ron Ferguson of Harvard University’s Achievement Gap Initiative, is focused on teaching young parents the key strategies that will boost their child’s brain development in the first three years of life.

“Our hope today is we can partner together on five easy principles that are going to work with our students, our children, our prospective students in many cases, to get them ready for education, to get them ready for our schools, to get them ready to be good, confident citizens within the village,” said Superintendent Dr. Marc Baiocco.

The program in Boston has had “unbelievable results in the Boston Public School system,” said Dr. Baiocco, partnering with organizations like the Black Philanthropy Fund, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s office, Boston Medical Center and WGBH, Boston’s public radio station.

To ensure the initiative will be equally successful in Elmsford, Dr. Baiocco is eager to partner with a number of local agencies, including the Greenburgh Health Center, White Plains Hospital, Westchester Medical Center and others.

Parents of young children in the village will be asked to sign a contract pledging to adhere to the program’s five evidence-based parenting and caregiving principles. Known as the “Basics,” they include the following:

• Maximize love, manage stress
• Talk, sing and point
• Count, group and compare
• Explore through movement and play
• Read and discuss stories

“Many of our families are not doing the basics and our students are not as prepared as they should be for school,” Dr. Baiocco added. “This program is all about giving a child a proper start through these simple, everyday activities.”

A series of videos and pamphlets explain what parents need to do. They are available in both English and Spanish. For more information, go to the district website at https://www.eufsd.org/domain/31