With summer just around the corner, the Summer and Extended Learning collaborative has been meeting to discuss changes in district summer programming, goals for summer learning and ways to fill in gaps to enrich and enhance the summer experience for all kids in the Bellevue School District.
Kristin McChesney, Learning Assistance Program (LAP) supervisor and summer school administrator for Bellevue School District, explained that this year, there will be six summer programs offered. Summer Scholars elementary summer school programs will be available at Lake Hills Elementary and Stevenson Elementary to all K-5 students not meeting standard from all schools within the school district.
McChesney explained that around 616 students were served at Summer Scholars in 2013, and the goal for 2014 is to reach enrollment of over 1000 students. “The two big changes this year are that we are expanding our programming to include two sites and now including all students district-wide from grades K-4.”
In addition to Summer Scholars, the Operation Exploration program will be at Sherwood Forest Elementary, the Academies program at Highland Middle School, Credit Retrieval/Grade Improvement classes and an Acceleration option at Interlake High School.
“The big need is to get a partnership for enrichment sessions,” McChesney said. “When students can have equal access to engaging summer camp experiences, it enhances their summer learning and not only better prepares them for the next school year but also for future life endeavors.”
Although we have more spots this summer, Jeannie Anderson, the Wrap-Around Service Coordinator for the City of Bellevue, explained that we have to think of new ways to engage kids.
Anderson explained that as a result of an Eastside Pathways meeting, she was able to coordinate with Boys & Girls Club of Bellevue and the King County Library System.
“We have the teachers, the Boys & Girls Club has the location and the kids and are looking to complement their existing services and programming, and KCLS had the books and the van so by working together we could reach the kids at the ideal time, have the right people reading to them and bring the resources that they needed, the books,” Anderson said.
Anderson said that the meetings have been a great way to form partnerships because we can better identify and support families during summer.
“By all working together and sharing resources we can all do more with less,” Anderson said. “I think organizations are somewhat limited due to budgeting and staffing but when we work together, we can really extend those resources to better support families.”
The concept of expanding summer programming hours was discussed among leaders from Jubilee REACH Center, Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, Bellevue School District and the Parks & Community Services Department of the City of Bellevue.
During this meeting, the group used data from the fall to map out the number of students in each school who were not expected to be on grade-level reading by the end of the school year. Several pieces of information surprised the group as they discussed the reading data.
Judy Buckmaster, executive director of student services at the Bellevue School District explained that in addition to looking at at the raw number of students, we must also consider the size of the school and its mobility rate–the number of students who enter or leave between October 1 and June 15.
In addition to test scores, the group discussed challenges and barriers for summer schools such as the difficulty getting kids registered for summer school from the district along with complementary summer programs at community organizations.
Terry Smith, the assistant director of Parks & Community Services at the City of Bellevue explained that limited resources, especially staffing, need to be considered if summer programs are expanded. He encouraged organizations to plan ahead for the 2015-2016 budget for summer programming and to apply for scholarship opportunities that are available through the city.
The representatives then organized locations where they had existing services (Jubilee REACH: white dot, Boys & Girls Club: orange dot, City of Bellevue: green dot, YMCA: purple dot).
While organizations were excited to create complementary programs with each other, transportation became a concern. “It’s hard for students to get from one place to another without an organized program,” said Stephanie Cherrington, executive director of Eastside Pathways. “We really need to work together to develop a comprehensive program that is both academic and fun.”
Article written by Charlotte Anthony