Benny Westcott
Students – lots of them – are signing up to participate in summer school in Sweet Home this year.
This year is the first the Sweet Home School District will receive state funding solely for summer programs, said District Business Manager Kevin Strong. And plenty of students of all ages will be taking advantage of the programs in the coming months, it appears.
More than 300 have signed up for summer schooling thus far, principals say.
Sweet Home’s share of the state grant is $340,128 for kindergarten through eighth-grade summer enrichment programming and $268,064 for high school summer academic support.
To receive the grant funds, the district must provide 25 percent of the total summer program cost using other state, local or federal funds.
“We plan to use a mix of state and federal grant funds to pay for the summer enrichment and academic support programs,” Strong said. “The state funds can be used for enrichment programs for students in kindergarten through eighth grade and for academic support for high school students.”
As part of the K-8 summer enrichment programming, Strong said some high school sport teams are planning free sports clinics this summer for Sweet Home students.
All the district schools will be utilizing the funds in one way or another.
Sweet Home High School will be holding traditional summer school from June 21 to July 2. Any student who has failed a specified core class with a percentage between 40 and 59.99% has been invited to attend summer school to make up their work and receive a passing credit.
In addition, Sweet Home High School will be offering a Summer ReConnect program for students to participate in a variety of workshops during the morning hours.
Some workshops will include tuna fishing, tuna canning, nature exploration, welding art, yoga/Pilates, tennis, snorkeling adventure, beekeeping, digital art designing and creating, building snowboards, and more. Students who participate in at least two workshops will receive a half credit of career exploration to help fulfill their elective requirements for graduation.
Program details will be mailed home to all current eighth-, ninth- and 10th-graders the first week of July, said High School Success Coordinator Kristin Adams. Students have until August 6 to register. Each workshop will have a maximum number of participants allowed, ranging between 10 and 30.
At the junior high, Tiger S.L.A.M., an acronym for “Summer Learning, Activities and Movement,” will be open to all incoming seventh- and eighth-graders. It will take place from July 19 to Aug. 27, five days a week from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The programming will feature field trips, movies, archery, cooking, crafts, exploring, fishing and more.
Ninety-six students have already signed up for the sessions, which will be capped at 100.
“We’re really excited about it. It’s going to be a great program. I’ve been in education for 25 years, and have never had an opportunity to do something like this with the students,” said Principal Terry Martin.
He said 22 staff members will be helping with the summer programming, consisting of 10 certified and 12 classified staff.
“We’re going to make pizza with the kids, have them tie ties, count change, grow a garden – a lot of that type of stuff you see on the internet that people complain about schools not doing.”
At Oak Heights, programming will be offered July 19 to Aug. 19, Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to noon. Sixty-five students have signed up.
“It’s going to be crafts, field trips and academics,” said Jill Moore, secretary.
“We’re offering this to help the kids catch up on some stuff, and so they don’t lose what they’ve learned this year. And because kids are behind,” Moore said. “But also, they need the social interaction with each other.”
Programming at Hawthorne, Foster, and Holley will take place at the same times as Oak Heights’ in July and August.
At Foster, 80 students have already signed up.
“Each classroom is planning fun activities for students as well as school incentive activities,” said Principal Luke Augsburger.
At Holley, “summer school will focus on making up for our last year’s learning loss,” said Principal Josh Dargis. About 60 students have signed up for summer programming so far.
“We will also have electives each day and the kids will get to go to the swimming pool on Thursdays,” he said.
The types of electives offered include gardening, outside games, art/crafts, and board games.
Lunch, snacks and transportation will be provided for participants.