Board hears Rising Rock Stars update on federal grant, enrollment and student gains

At the North Syracuse Board of Education meeting, Rising Rock Stars director Chao Li updated board members on program enrollment, partners and academic outcomes under the program’s “20 first century” grant, and said the final year of grant funding remains uncertain.

The update matters because the program provides before‑ and after‑school care and summer programming that district officials say saves families substantial childcare costs and supports students’ academic and social‑emotional growth. The grant also pays only for students who receive at least 15 hours of programming, making enrollment and retention central to the program’s budget.

Chao Li said Rising Rock Stars began with about 274 registrations in its first year. “This past school year, 221 kids signed up for summer 2024,” he said, and added the program had 414 students during the school year. The program hit a target of 430 students who received 15 or more hours, he said. The district’s contract is structured as a pay‑for‑performance grant: full funding requires reaching 95% of the program’s target, which was reduced from 567 to 454 students after the first two years, Li said.

Li described program partnerships and services. “Our main partner is the YMCA of Central New York, the arts and education branch,” he said, and said about 60% of instructors come from the YMCA. He also cited partnerships with Contact Community Services, Liberty Resources and “l b b LPP Consulting,” which he identified as the program’s independent evaluator.

Site staff described activities and family engagement. Jennifer McCann, the program’s new elementary site coordinator, listed arts and crafts, physical‑education games, cooking, recorder lessons by Donna Marie Norton and field trips to local sites as examples of the program’s offerings. “We have family cooking classes,” McCann said, and offered twice‑yearly student showcases and other family events.

Tim, who described his role running the middle‑school side of the program, said activities are a mix of staff planning and student interest and noted planned expansions including a dialogue club trained by Interfaith Works and additional family nights. He also said the program has been treated as a model in the state: “The state evaluator … came to do a site visit at the middle school because we’re considered a model program of all the 20 first century programs in the state,” he said.

Li and staff provided program logistics and limits. They said the elementary morning program is capped at 55 because staff cannot use classrooms while teachers are teaching and must use the cafeteria; the district is targeting staff‑to‑child ratios of 13:1 at the elementary site and about 16:1 at the middle school. Li said, “right now … for the morning program, we only have 2 spots left,” and that after‑school spaces at the middle school were full at the time of the presentation.

On outcomes, Li attributed measurable student improvements to program participation and school‑day supports. He reported that students with 30 or more hours in the program showed improvements on aimsweb ELA and math benchmarks and said the program saw varying improvement rates across three years: “In year 2, we had 42 percent … and year 3, we had 36 percent,” Li said. He also said 54 seventh graders who had GPAs below 3.0 showed gains the following year.

Li described advocacy and funding volatility. He said the state education department notified the program by email that required funding had been released after a period of uncertainty: “I just got an email, like, maybe a week and a half ago … from the state ed saying that, OK, we have the funding,” he said. He warned the program’s final year of the five‑year grant remains at risk and that national and state advocacy by groups such as the After School Alliance played a role in restoring funding.

Board members and attendees responded with praise and questions about capacity. One board member asked whether lower registration this year reflected fewer slots; Li said the program intentionally keeps enrollment aligned with staff capacity to maintain ratios and program quality.

Li also presented a rough cost comparison for families, citing YMCA pricing and offering a savings estimate. “If you’re a nonmember, you’re paying … $395 a month for before school and $470 after school and over the summer for 4 weeks, it’s like $1,460 for 4 weeks,” he said, and later estimated the program saved families “about $9,245” when aggregated across some period, a figure he presented to illustrate the program’s local financial impact.

The presentation closed with staff describing ongoing outreach to families at other district schools and plans to continue evaluations and family engagement events. Board members had no formal vote tied to the presentation; the item was an informational update.

For follow‑up, board members asked staff to share more detailed capacity numbers and clarifications on which towns and campuses are eligible to send students to Rising Rock Stars.

The district presentation included several named individuals who spoke for the program: Chao Li, Jennifer McCann and Tim; program partners named were the YMCA of Central New York, Contact Community Services and Liberty Resources.