Roselle Public Schools
Strengthening afterschool staff practice, team culture, and family engagement through targeted, high-impact professional development.
About the Client
Roselle Public Schools operates a 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) afterschool program serving students and families across the district. The program provides academic support, enrichment, and safe spaces for students beyond the school day. Staff work in fast-paced, high-demand environments that require strong classroom management, consistent engagement strategies, and meaningful family connection.
The Challenge
Program leadership sought support to address multiple interconnected needs.
Key challenges:
- Re-energize frontline staff midyear
- Strengthen classroom management and student engagement
- Build staff confidence in lesson planning and real-time problem solving
- Reconnect staff and families to the purpose and value of the afterschool program
- Create spaces for reflection, celebration, and shared learning
Our Strategy
We delivered three custom-designed engagements: two staff training sessions focused on practice, culture, and sustainability, plus one family engagement event designed to strengthen relationships between staff, students, and caregivers.
Practice-Focused Professional Development
Midyear staff training emphasized classroom management, student engagement strategies, lesson planning with preparation and what-if scenarios, and group problem-solving using authentic real-world challenges.
Planning as Support and Care
Staff engaged in a structured lesson plan audit, reviewing upcoming lessons for clear objectives, materials readiness, transition planning, and backup plans. Reframed preparation as a tool for reducing stress, not compliance.
Culture, Joy, and Sustainability
Trainings created intentional space for reflection on joy, service, and celebration in daily work. Activities like “permission slips” encouraged staff to name and protect boundaries. Team-building through shared wins, peer recognition, and conversations about balance and self-care.
Clarity and Compliance
NJ compliance requirements addressed through clear, rapid-fire updates, simple tools and one-page checklists, and explicit guidance on where to go for support and questions.
Key Deliverables
A series of three targeted engagements combining skill-building, team connection, and family partnership.
Staff Training Sessions
Two interactive workshops on practice, culture, and sustainability
Lesson Plan Audit
Structured review with objectives, readiness, transitions, and backup plans
Family Engagement Event
Parent event centering families as partners in student success
Compliance Tools
One-page checklists and rapid-fire updates on NJ requirements
Results & Impact
Across the three engagements, staff and families reported meaningful shifts in practice, culture, and connection.
Energized
Staff reported renewed energy and clarity midyear
Strengthened
Teams built shared language and classroom approaches
Equipped
Staff left with concrete, immediately usable tools
Connected
Families experienced the program as welcoming and intentional
By combining practical tools, team-building, and purpose-driven reflection, afterschool programs become essential spaces for learning, connection, and care.
Giddings Consulting Group
Key Insights
This partnership reflects our approach to workforce development in education settings. The Roselle Public Schools engagement strengthened staff capacity and reinforced the role of afterschool programs as essential spaces for learning, connection, and care.
Afterschool staff benefit most from practical, interactive learning grounded in real scenarios rather than theory.
Strong teams require intentional space for both accountability and care — skill-building and well-being are connected.
Family engagement strengthens overall program impact when approached relationally, not transactionally.
Midyear is a critical moment for reset and reflection.