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ISD 196 reports 67,000 summer meals, thousands of students served in Camp Propel and credit-recovery programs
Summary
District 196 officials told the school board that summer programming served roughly 67,000 meals and enrolled thousands across elementary Camp Propel, middle-school academies and high-school credit recovery, while staff noted data gaps the board asked to fill on equitable outreach and invitations.
District 196 officials told the school board Sept. 15 that summer programs served about 67,000 meals across June, July and August and offered targeted academic and enrichment opportunities to thousands of students.
Director of elementary education Jeremy Sorensen said the district served 50,598 meals in June alone and about 67,000 total meals for the summer, an increase of roughly 4,000 meals from the previous year. He said neighborhood partnerships with Open Door helped deliver about 3,000 meals to families unable to travel to program sites.
Sorensen described Camp Propel, the elementary summer program, as a two-week, small-group model that used assessment data to target instruction. "For camp Propel this year, we had 2,172 students in grades 1 through 5 participating across 9 different elementary sites," he said. The district said each site included an English language development specialist to support emerging English learners.
Brad Schafer, who discussed middle- and high-school offerings, said all six middle schools hosted a three-week summer academy this year with 865 students attending, and noted ninth-grade academy and credit-recovery programs at the high-school level. "This year, we had a total of 202 students participating across our 4 high schools" in ninth-grade academy, and "our high schoolers enrolled a total of 770 students who collectively earned 1,854 high school course credits," Schafer said.
Jen York, who oversees special-education summer learning (ESY), said the district increased use of internal staff for ESY and invested in specialized curriculum. York described hands-on projects completed during ESY, including packing 1,000 hygiene kits for secondary sites, a project tied to McKinney-Vento supports.
Board members praised participation but repeatedly asked staff to provide disaggregated data showing who was invited versus who attended. Robin asked what percentage of participants came from outside the district; staff estimated roughly 5% for some offerings. Board members also asked whether demographics of attendees match district demographics and requested data on invitations, outreach strategies and teacher feedback.
Janet (Swachakowski) summarized strengths and next steps, telling the board the district will "review current programming, timing, structure" and analyze how the new approach impacted student learning. Staff said they will return with more detailed demographic breakdowns and evaluations.
The presentation was informational only; no board action was required.
