District reports more than 1,000 students served in summer programs; high school credit recovery, ESY and middle/elementary offerings detailed

The district presented a detailed recap of summer academic and enrichment programs at Thursday's Board of Education meeting, reporting attendance, staffing levels and program aims for elementary, middle, high school and extended-school-year (ESY) offerings.

Acting superintendent (presenter) and program leaders said summer programs were designed either to provide remediation and credit recovery or to accelerate and enrich student learning. Speakers described schedules, curriculum and staff support for each level and provided enrollment and staffing figures.

Elementary: Regina Trout and Tamika Harris, who led elementary summer school, said the district ran two elementary tracks: a traditional remediation program for scholars performing below grade level and an enrichment program for scholars performing above level. They reported a starting enrollment of 450 students and a final count of about 410 (309 in the traditional program and 101 in enrichment). Staff included 13 traditional teachers, five bilingual teachers, 12 enrichment teachers, two administrators, two clericals, three student-support facilitators, two nurses, six security officers and one school resource officer. The daily schedule included dual ELA and math blocks and a midday dismissal for younger grades.

Middle school: Belinda Hodler, who led the middle-school program, said the district offered traditional remediation for students who failed core classes, a summer accelerated preview for incoming seventh- and eighth-graders (two 2½-week cohorts), and a language-bridge program for students developing English proficiency. She reported 269 total middle-school participants: 108 in traditional summer school, 66 in cohort one of accelerated programming, 51 in cohort two, and 44 in the language-bridge program. Hodler said about 95% of middle-school students who needed remediation attended.

High school: Presenters said the high school hosted multiple concurrent programs in one building. The high school summer offerings included credit recovery, college coursework, senior-pathway cohorts and regents-prep sessions. District leaders reported more than 1,000 high-school scholars participated during the summer. Presenters gave these breakdowns: 635 students in credit-recovery courses, 97 students taking college courses, 34 students in the senior pathway, and 278 students in Regents-prep offerings. Program staff included 46 teachers, clerical staff, counselors, student-support facilitators, nurses and a heavy complement of security staff. The district said schedule flexibility allowed students to participate even if they needed adjusted hours for work or other obligations.

Extended School Year (ESY): Special-education leaders reported an ESY program for students whose IEPs required extended-year services to prevent substantial regression. ESY ran a shorter instructional day with staggered schedules and included related-service providers and aides. Leaders said ESY served 132 scholars, grades 1–12, and that progress on IEP goals would be reflected in August progress reports and discussed at subsequent CSE meetings.

Outcomes and assessment: Middle-school staff said summer MAP assessments and classroom culminating assessments were used to track growth in ELA and math; ESY leaders said progress was tracked against individual IEP goals. High-school presenters said program outcomes included course completions, college credits earned and Regents proficiency (65% proficiency used as a passing standard for Regents prep). A high-school presenter said the district achieved a 94% graduation rate for a recent cohort and credited summer programming as a contributing support; the presenter attributed the figure to the summer-program team's work.

Board members asked questions about staffing ratios, particularly social-work coverage at the high school, and about recruitment and attendance—several board members urged continued outreach to families for students who are eligible but do not enroll. Presenters said the elementary program saw lower-than-eligible takeup as some families chose other summer activities; the district reported outreach calls had increased late enrollments.

Board members praised the programs and invited program staff to return with follow-up metrics in future meetings.