SBHS considering alternatives for costly ‘enrichment’ summer
classes
Hollister – San Benito High School may be altering summer school programs for all students except those who absolutely need them, after SBHS was forced to eat $155,000 in programing costs last year.
“We’re going to be focusing on providing the basic skills our students need to succeed during the regular school year, and putting less emphasis on enrichment or advancement,” said SBHS Superintendent Jean Burns Slater.
Summer school has become increasingly popular, not only with students who need the extra help but with students hoping to get ahead in their studies, take extra electives, or just looking for a place to go during the summer.
“This community really appreciates the opportunity to give their kids something constructive to do over the summer,” said Slater. “There aren’t a lot of places for teenagers to go and have a summer job in this community, so summer school is one of only a few options.”
The programs are so popular, in fact, that last year nearly 1,700 students, more than half of SBHS’ student body, enrolled in a class. Ultimately, however, only around 1,000 students stay involved in the program for the full six weeks.
The state will fund 100 percent of all programs designed to get kids who are performing poorly in school school back on track to passing the California High School Exit Exam and getting their diploma. These are students who need more credits or haven’t passed the exam after a few tries, or younger students who score at basic or below on their Standardized Testing and Reporting exams.
“Basically we’re looking at the kids who are in trouble,” said Jim Koenig, Director Finance and Operations at SBHS.
Funding for students looking to get a particularly unsavory class out of the way, however, is not as plentiful. The state will only provide the money for about 5 percent of any school’s student body to take summer “enrichment” courses – in the case of SBHS, only about 150 students.
Altogether, last year SBHS provided more than $224,000 in summer school programming, only $69,000 of which was paid for by the state. And enrichment summer school classes are continuing to grow while fewer students who actually needed remediation attended in 2005 than the summer prior.
“These classes have been a function of demand,” said Koenig. “So basically in 2005 we were offering three times more programming than the state would fund.”
The SBHS board of trustees will vote on a proposal on March 22 that would change the district’s approach to summer school, putting a focus on classes for students who are repeating the subject and enrolling students in CAHSEE support courses.
The district is also considering a partnership with Gavilan College that would allow students to take enrichment courses through the college, possibly at the SBHS campus. Not only would these students be satisfying graduation requirements and be free to take more elective courses during the regular school, they would be earning college credits at the same time.
“It’s been done in Morgan Hill and we even offered a band course through Gavilan College,” said Slater. “I think it would be a good opportunity for students who are serious about their studies.”
