Questions persist regarding summer school results
Sweet Home
by DAVID F. SHERMAN Managing Editor

While data shows the 2007 summer school program in the Sweet Home Central School District resulted in higher grades for students who completed it, at least one board member still asks the question - is it doing enough?

Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Tony Day introduced speakers to the outcome of this year's program during the Sept. 18 Board of Education meeting.

Board member Dirk Rabenold shared the board's enthusiasm for what faculty and administrators did during the summer, but asked aloud if the board will ever truly know the success level of the program.

He said dropout rates, especially in the high school, and the program's voluntary status could hinder the overall effectiveness of trying to reach each student in need of academic assistance.

"We lose a lot of kids through attendance issues. Some just fade out and don't stick with the program," said high school teacher Steve Dimitroff.

Sweet Home High School offers both a five-week remedial program, as well as a Regents exam review session in August.

The remedial program is the one which has the attendance issue, he said.

He said the value of the Regents review program is also "undetermined." Board member Marianne Jasen suggested students be asked to fill out an exit questionnaire at the close of the session.

While older students have the capacity to perform such an assessment, younger ones do not. Holly Olmstead, principal of the elementary program, prefers to call her summer school classes "Discovery Camp."

"We focus on what they need; we focus on motivation to make summer school fun," she told the board. "Our goal was literacy, not math or other skills."

The 142 pupils in the elementary program, held under one roof at Heritage Heights, included pupils from the English as a Second Language and special education programs, as well as parochial school invitees.

Attendance was up from two years ago, fortified by weekly newsletters posted on the district's Web site, Olmstead said.

Middle School Principal Gregory Smorol outlined his building's two programs, one for pupils in grades 5 and 6 transitioning to the higher grades, and the other for grades 6 and 8, dealing in math and literacy intervention.

The program was hampered somewhat by the fact that it was held in the high school because of ongoing construction, Smorol said. Yet even the younger pupils were able to gain an appreciation for a new way of life that involves lockers, bigger desks and harder courses.

"We are addressing academic risks as well as potential social risks," he said. "Students who didn't fail, but were still reading below grade level, were also invited. That turnout was disappointing."

He said increasing the session by one or two weeks next year could result in higher student achievement.

e-mail: dsherman@beenews.com