Booked for the summer

Seven-year-old Matthias Miller spent last week making new friends and spending a little time crying. It was his first day at his new school – summer school at Broadway Elementary School in the Central Valley School District.

His mother, Loretta Stricker, said that the family recently moved to Spokane Valley after living in Asotin, Wash. Summer school seemed like a good way for him to get caught up with his reading skills and make some new friends.

“He cried,” she said. “It was a big adjustment for him.”

After he spent the morning with his class, Stricker met with his stepdad, his grandmother and his three half-brothers. Matthias got to have lunch at the school and the family later went to Discovery Park.

Summer school isn’t just for students who need to get caught up with their studies. Dawnette Staben brought her two daughters, Anastacia, who will be in third grade this fall, and Abigail, who will be in the first grade, to give them some structure over the summer, when many of their friends are in day care or on trips.

“Some of them are credit deficient,” said Terrie VanderWegen, the district’s assistant superintendent of learning and teaching. “There are kids that just want to get ahead.”

This year’s elementary and middle school classes are full. There are 90 students enrolled at Broadway Elementary. There are 70 students in the middle school program held at Central Valley High School. There are 146 high school students also attending classes at CV.

Attendance is down a bit in the district this summer. Last year, there were 120 students in the elementary program, which included the English language learners program, which isn’t offered this summer. At the middle-school level, 35 students attended one four-hour program. This year, there are 70 students, but the district is offering two, two-hour programs. In the high school, 204 students attended summer school last year.

The program started early – students and teachers came back the Wednesday after the last day of school. The elementary and middle school programs run Monday through Thursday through July 22. The high school, also at CV this summer, meets Mondays through Fridays until July 27.

Students on the free and reduced-price lunch program during the school year or if they are either math or language arts credit deficient can qualify for scholarships to attend for free. Otherwise, it’s $150 to attend at the elementary level, $75 per two-hour session at the middle-school level and $175 per class at the high-school level.

VanderWegen said the teachers of the elementary and middle school programs work hard to keep the students engaged. They provide hands-on activities and come up with a theme to learn around. This year’s theme is habitat.

Leisa Lybbert, summer elementary school principal, said each classroom has decided on a different habitat to study this summer. The habitats are ponds, caves, deserts, the ocean, caves and the rain forest. The curriculum is integrated around those themes – it includes their reading, math and science. At the end of the term, the students will invite their parents and everyone can visit each room. There are six teachers at the school and two reading specialists.

Lybbert, a second-year summer school principal, said studies have shown some students may forget what they have learned over the summer, and have to re-learn in the fall. Summer school is a great way to avoid that.

“(We are) negating the summer learning loss,” she said.

Lybbert said the first day of summer school is fun for the students, since many of them attended last year and get to see their friends who attend different schools in the district during the school year.

“They had a great time last year,” Lybbert said.

One of the benefits of having summer school at Broadway is the summer nutrition program. Breakfast and lunch are offered for free to any child, no matter what district they live in as long as they are between the ages of 1 and 18.

Students at Broadway can get breakfast before class, and then get lunch after class. Breakfast is offered from 7:30 to 8:15 a.m. and lunch is served from noon to 12:45 p.m. Both meals are served Monday through Thursdays until July 22.