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John F. Kennedy Center tells Erie board prevention must be a district priority; 21st Century after-school program struggles to meet funded enrollment
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Summary
John F. Kennedy Center leaders told the board their prevention work addresses early indicators of later substance use and mental-health issues and asked the district to make prevention programming a required, funded priority. The center also reported 116 students served in year 3 of its 21st Century program, short of the 200-student funded target and describing operational hurdles including reimbursement timing.
Representatives from the John F. Kennedy Center told the Erie School District board on April 15 that early prevention work is essential and should be embedded into district priorities and funding, not left as an optional pilot.
"If we already have this data and we choose not to act differently, then this is no longer a student problem, it becomes a system problem," said Selena Gavin, JFK's prevention specialist, citing local indicators she said predict substance abuse and mental-health challenges. Gavin gave local figures for fourth graders: "Over half of our fourth graders, 52 percent, roughly 850 children are being bullied sometimes, often, or always," and said "more than 80 percent of the same 8- and 9-year-olds report feeling sad." She urged the district to "make a policy level decision... embedded in prevention-based programming into district priorities, funding decisions, and accountability measures."
JFK's 21st Century Community Learning Centers program director, Terry Lane, briefed the board on program operations and participation. Lane said the program is federally funded through the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and is reimbursement-based: the site is funded for 200 students but served 116 in year three (58% of funded capacity). Lane described programming (ELA and math tutoring, STEM, art, social-emotional learning, gardening) and noted scheduling and automation issues that make tracking and enrollment difficult: "Some of that is buried in the lack of automation. When we improve that, hopefully, we can improve that number as well." He also said the program must front funding and wait for PDE reimbursement, and that the grant is approximately $360,000 per year (totaling $1,800,000 over five years).
Board members and staff asked practical questions: how students get to/from the center (JFK operates a minibus and van and runs pickup routes), whether the district provides funding (Assistant Superintendent Brockman said the district does not fund the program currently and that funds flow directly from PDE to JFK), and how to increase participation (Lane said co-locating sessions in schools and running a "twofer" model helped raise numbers at McKinley).
The presentation led the board to discuss data-sharing and alignment: Lane credited district staff (Zogorski/Zagorski in transcript) for enabling a data-sharing agreement that allows the center to receive academic data and integrate its activities with the district's strategic priorities. Board members encouraged follow-up to explore barriers to reaching funded capacity and to consider how the district can support access and coordination.
What officials requested next: staff follow-up to review transportation, automation/digitization options, and partnership steps to improve participation so federally funded slots are fully used.
