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Summer Classes Headed Back to School: Aberdeen Middle-School Students to Get Extra Help Again, Too

Posted on: Thursday, 20 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Russ Keen, American News, Aberdeen, S.D.

Apr. 20--After an absence of almost a decade, summer school for middle-school students will return to Aberdeen public schools in June.

And summer school for elementary students will return to classrooms; last summer, parents delivered lessons at home.

Summer school for middle-schoolers got the ax in 1997 to help balance the general-fund budget. Summer instruction for grade-schoolers continued, however.

Last summer, the district tried a pilot program for elementary summer school, also to save money. The district spent $1,200 for 100 summer activity books used at home by 100 children whose parents guided them through the reading and math activities in the books.

Before the pilot, the district spent about $6,000 per summer to provide at-school summer school for about 100 grade-school kids. This coming summer's program for grade- and middle-school kids is budgeted at $10,000. Almost all of the expense is pay for teachers, who will be paid at the same rate they receive for regular school.

The 2006 program can accommodate up to 80 elementary students and 80 from middle schools, said Becky Guffin, the district's director of educational services. Teachers have already recommended students for the program, but the recommendations are not binding. Parents have the right to keep their kids out of summer school.

Parents also can recommend their children for summer school, even if a teacher doesn't, Guffin said. "We would certainly consider such requests, but there is no guarantee we would accept them," she said.

As usual, summer instruction will focus on math and reading. Summer school is designed to serve students who need a little extra help.

Sessions will take place for four weeks in June four days a week, Monday through Thursday. Students will be in school from 60 to 90 minutes each day.

All elementary sessions will be at C.C. Lee Elementary School, 1900 North State St., and all middle-school sessions will be at Holgate Middle School, 2200 North Dakota St. Only two sites will be used to save on energy costs, said Superintendent Gary Harms.

Four certified teachers will conduct elementary sessions, and two certified instructors will teach middle school.

There is no cost to families.

Pilot feedback: It would be unfair to say last summer's pilot program was a failure, Harms said. New programs usually need three years before a proper evaluation can be made, he said.

Parents who served as teachers at home last summer and who responded to a survey were split 50-50 as to whether their children were better prepared for regular school as a result of last year's pilot. And only 25 percent of the parents returned the survey.

But the consensus in the community appears to be that summer-school students would be better served by certified teachers, he said.

The school board has reached the same conclusion. However, the district has never formally evaluated teacher-taught summer school to determine whether its students are better prepared for regular school.

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Copyright (c) 2006, American News, Aberdeen, S.D.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: American News (Aberdeen, S.D.)

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