Effingham County Illinois Schools Bridge League Report

Seven teachers attended the seven-hour bidding seminar that Mary Beth and I presented to them on Tuesday, October 2nd. These are the teachers who received Bill Gates' grant money to teach mini-bridge last year. They are starting after-school Bridge Clubs this month and a total of 75 students are expected to participate in five different schools. We will be meeting with them once a month for two to three hours to keep them ahead of their students.

The key person in this activity is Debbie Owen, who is the Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Effingham. She sponsored our seminar and provided the Board room for the class. She also called all the teachers and arranged for them to use a school day for the class. The last hour of our session was spent on planning. The three schools who have not submitted grants to the ACBL Educational Foundation will be doing so. These grants will request supplemental funds beyond the $350 stipend paid from the School Bridge Lesson Series. The additional stipend rate will be the same as a coaches rate in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that each school has with its teachers. It is important to show that the 5 school districts involved in this program are treating Bridge as a school sponsored activity. For me, this is a major break-through in establishing a model that can be exported to other communities and school districts. The five schools have arranged a tournament schedule that starts in Januarv with each school hosting one of the tournaments each month through May. I will be working with Debbie Owen to submit a grant application for our November meeting to provide funding for the resources needed to support this program.   (October 2, 2007)

Mary Beth and I spent over two hours with 6 of the 7 Effingham teachers that are sponsoring after school bridge clubs in 5 of the Effingham middle schools. Their initial estimate of a total of 75 students has grown to 90. So, the time Mary Beth and I spend teaching the teachers has an excellent multiplier effect when measuring the number of students learning how to play bridge. We plan to meet with them for another two hour session on December 4th. They will start playing one tournament per month in January and I will be their director. They think that somewhere between 40 and 50 students will participate in the tournaments. This may be the best opportunity for the film crew to record kids playing bridge in large numbers. (November 6, 2007)

submitted by Christopher C Shaw, Jr.