Washington County Public Schools details 2026 summer-school plan with expanded elementary and high-school offerings

Washington County Public Schools presented details of its 2026 summer-school program at a board work session, with programs aimed at closing achievement gaps and accelerating summer learning.

Dan Fowler, supervisor of school management, told the board the district will operate three distinct summer programs: an elementary acceleration program at 14 schools (13 sites), high-school original and repeat-credit courses at South High, and a freshman transition program for at-risk incoming ninth graders. "Each student at each site will receive 70 minutes of ELA, 70 minutes of math," Fowler said.

The elementary program targets students entering kindergarten through grade 5 who have identified gaps in English language arts and mathematics. Elementary sites will run July 6—30 (four weeks, 16 school days). Breakfast and lunch will be provided at each school; transportation will be arranged via hub stops. Staff said the district is budgeting $50,000 to assist schools with elementary transportation. Teacher pay for elementary summer instructors will be funded from Title I and concentration-of-poverty grant funds.

At the high-school level the district plans five original-credit courses and about 33 repeat-credit course offerings (morning and afternoon sessions) at South High; those courses will run daily from about 8:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Students in original-credit courses will attend full days and may earn one original credit; students may enroll in two repeat-credit courses in a single day. The staffing budget for high-school summer offerings is approximately $250,000 from the general fund, staff said.

The district also described a freshman transition program for at-risk incoming ninth graders at South, North and Williamsport high schools. That program will run the full day, offer an advanced study skill elective for transcript credit, and include organized team-building and student-success strategies to help students acclimate to high school.

Fowler said the district will evaluate outcomes using existing assessments: for reading, staff will compare students' end-of-year assessment results to their beginning-of-year assessments when classes resume; in math, the curriculum team will administer a pre-assessment in the first days of summer instruction and a post-assessment near the end of the summer session to measure growth. "We will evaluate our instruction through mathematics beginning of unit assessment and end of unit assessment," he said.

Enrollment and budget details: staff reported about 340 students were already enrolled in the high-school summer program at the time of the presentation and projected 500—600 students by the end of the enrollment window. Overall district summer-program costs were described as roughly $350,000 (about $300,000 for high-school programming including the transition program and $50,000 for elementary transportation). Staff emphasized that final staffing and salary expenditures for summer-teaching positions would come from the stated grant and general-fund sources.

Board members asked for course examples and measurement specifics; Fowler named several original-credit classes (English 12, a probability and statistics offering, and algebra courses as examples) and reiterated the district's assessment plan. The board did not take formal action; staff retained the enrollment and assessment plan for implementation and monitoring.