TO: All Principals
Thomas Pandiscio, John Benoit, John Locke, Leo Labbe, Robert Forbes, William Howland, Charles Gruszka, Louis Giantris, Judith Daniel, John Gannon

FROM: Alfred D. Tutela, Ph.D., Superintendent

SUBJECT: Board Games

As educational leaders, we are responsible for developing the minds of our youth. Our responsibility includes encouraging. facilitating, cajoling and/or promoting those ideas and activities that will enhance learning.

In a former school system, in a very inner city school, a teacher asked me to support his efforts in creating a board game as an extra curricular activity. That school, within a three-year period, won the state chess championship. Students were allowed to use their intelligence in ways which instructional programs didn't complement.

As you read the attached promotional brochure from the American Checker Federation, note that the Willoughby (a suburban Cleveland district), Ohio superintendent, who once was interim superintendent and deputy in Cleveland, encouraged board games in his district and learned from the performance of Cleveland schools.

Computers can be excellent tools to develop the intellect, but they also limit social development. Competitive board games not only entertain but can encourage and inspire intellectual interaction. Certainly, an individualized educational organization can respond to the needs of those students who desire to develop their strategic and tactical skills in a competitive environment. For those of you who have participated, keep it up.

ATTACHMENT:
Charles Varjian, Operations and Curriculum Development Consultant
David P. Trainor, Director of Human Resources Management
Forrest R. Gilmore, Jr., Director of Special Education
Joseph J. Mielinski, Business Manager

"Better Schools Make Better Communities"

Excerpt taken from a memo by Alfred D. Tutela, Ph.D., Superintendent of the Wachusett Regional School District in Massachusetts.


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