Inside our schools: Summer programs expand kids’ views
School’s out for summer, but it is not – despite what rocker Alice Cooper says – out forever.
In fact, some students will have just a few days away from a school building before beginning activities at Bryan Elementary with the district’s after school and summer enrichment program, Community Development Affiliates 4 KIDS, or CDA4KIDS.
But they won’t be there for academics. During the school year, it provides after school and before school activities and gives kids a quiet place to study or get help with homework. In the summer, CDA4KIDS provides enrichment programs for kids who might otherwise spend their days in front of a television or running around the neighborhood unsupervised.
Program director James Curb called it “a summer program for the most underprivileged schools in the district.”
The program started at Borah and Atlas elementary schools, where more than 45 percent of kids at each school qualify for free or reduced price lunch, a school district’s standard measure of poverty. Bryan Elementary was added this year.
In its third year, CDA4KIDS is not a remediation program. It’s meant to give kids things to do to expand their views on the world and give them experiences they wouldn’t otherwise get, Curb said.
“We’re picking them up; we’re feeding them; we’re entertaining them; we’re taking them back home for free,” he said. “We give them hands-on experiences that they can take into the classroom in order to complement their regular school day.”
And it’s dependent on volunteers and donations.
Volunteers from all facets of the community will work with the kids in the summer program to teach them about different hobbies.
The federal grant that started the program gives $150,000 each year for the first three years, then $120,000 in year four and $90,000 in year five. So after this year, the program will have smaller operating budget and will need to bring in more donations.
Curb said he expects the community will pull through.
“We’ve gotten so many grants and so much community support it’s just believable,” he said. “At some point in time just about every business is going to be or has been involved in CDA4KIDS.”
About 90 kids from Borah, Atlas and Bryan are signed up for the program, which begins Wednesday and runs through July 26. Curb hopes to eventually expand the program into all the other elementary schools.
Anyone interesting in donating or volunteering should call him at 664-5844.