Selected Fort Scott students will be offered extra learning opportunities this summer. Transportation will be provided free of charge to students and additionally, food service will be provided free of charge to students, according to USD 234 Superintendent Ted Hessong.
“We will have Extended School Year (ESY) for special education students (Pre-K – 11), Extended Learning Opportunities for general education students (Pre-K-11), and JumpStart for preschool students,” Hessong said.
“ESY is a program we have offered in the summer for several years for special education students,” he said. “Special education staff work with students based on their individual learning needs.”
“This summer will be the first time in a few years, we have offered extended learning opportunities for general education students,” Hessong said. “With the use of ESSER II funds provided by the federal government, we will be providing summer learning opportunities to get a jump start to next school year.”
ESSER Funds were established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act,(CARES) the core purpose of the ESSER II Fund is to provide direct money to states and districts to address the areas most impacted by the disruption and closure of schools caused by COVID-19, according to the website https://www.nj.gov/education/ESSER
Students will focus on academic target areas based on academic data collected during the school year, Hessong said.
“This academic data comes from the MAP assessments our district utilizes as well as state assessment data from this current school year,” he said. “The ESSER II funds allow us to provide these learning opportunities to address academic gaps identified for individual students to help them be more prepared for promotion to their next grade level.”
” Each building will have general education staff provide the learning opportunities for identified students,” Hessong said. “This is not mandatory for identified students, but we hope parents and students understand our goal is to strengthen their child’s academic progress going into the next school year.”
“For several years USD 234 has provided a JumpStart summer program for preschool students going into Kindergarten,” he said. “The preschool receives a grant that provides funding for the JumpStart program. Identified preschool students are provided an opportunity to get a head start going into kindergarten, which will help them to be better prepared to be successful in kindergarten.”
Summer offering schedule:
Dates: July 20 – August 6
Location: Middle School (except for JumpStart)
Days: Monday – Friday
Time: 8 a.m. – noon.
Format:
Preschool – 8 – 11 a.m. at the preschool.
Jumpstart – at Winfield Scott Elementary from 8 to 11 a.m.
Primary (K-2) – 8 to 10 a.m.
Intermediate (3-5) – 10 a.m. to noon.
Middle School – 8 a.m. to noon.
High School – 8 a.m. to noon. (credit recovery)