Community education director outlines changes to Spooner’s CLC after‑school program; participation climbs to 515

Janine McNelte, the district’s community education director, presented a year‑in‑review of the CLC 21st Century before- and after-school grant program, describing staffing changes, participation growth and policy shifts intended to reduce barriers to access.

McNelte said she consolidated multiple program brands into a single, unified design and created a mirrored staffing model at each site — a program coordinator, a site assistant and an academic-enrichment staffer — so staff can operate more independently and sustain the grant model. She reported total program participation increased by 33 students to 515; Mighty Engines reported 289 participants (165 youth) and Rails Club 226 (194 youth). McNelte said family-program participation events are included in grant reporting and the program met its requirement to host four family events per grant site.

To reduce transportation barriers, McNelte said the program now prioritizes safe transport for families with the greatest need rather than a first-come, first-served approach. "We can't all have transportation…we found out that it's not that we have to give all transportation. We have to find safe transport," she said, explaining the district will prioritize families with vehicle or time constraints when allocating van runs or partner transportation.

McNelte described expanded place-based partnerships — including the Oak teen drop‑in (a human‑services youth site housed in the former senior center), a developing partnership with the St. Croix Tribe's education program and renewed outreach with Scouts and hunter-safety offerings — and said summer-school enrollment totaled 131 students across a two-week program with about half at the middle school and half at the elementary.

She said social-emotional regulation and mental-health supports will be a larger component of the grant next year and that the district plans to hire a site coordinator and expand high‑school leadership in out‑of‑school-time sites. Board members asked clarifying questions about how participation was counted (family events and adults are included in family participation figures) and about the Oak; McNelte explained the Oak is a county human-services drop-in site and district staff are working to align lesson-plan and safety requirements to qualify partnership activities under the grant. The committee received the update and placed it on file.