ISD 622 launches 'Flight' after‑school program serving 573 middle‑school students under $1.5 million state grant

The North St. Paul–Maplewood–Oakdale School District (ISD 622) described a new after‑school program called Flight that served 573 middle‑school students in its first year and is funded by a three‑year state after‑school community learning grant worth $500,000 per year.

Flight — an acronym for “Future Leaders Inspiring Growth, Honor, and Talent” — runs Monday through Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at John Glenn and Skyview middle schools. The district presented the program’s structure to the school board, saying the first two hours each day are club‑based enrichment (clubs meet twice weekly), an activity bus departs at 4 p.m., and supervised programming continues until 6 p.m. for students who remain on site.

The program offers more than 50 clubs across fall, winter and spring sessions, district staff said, allowing students to enroll in up to five clubs per session. Examples cited included art, fencing,…