Parents of students in D.C. public schools will soon have a better idea of what summer options are available for their children.
During a virtual hearing with the city council’s Committee of the Whole on combating learning loss due to the coronavirus pandemic, Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn said parents can begin signing up for the Mayor Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program. The city extended the deadline for signing up until March 6.
Starting March 22, parents will be able to sign up their children for Department of Parks and Recreation camps, some of which will offer academic elements aimed at helping children combat a loss in learning. Kihn said more information on those camps will be released on March 8.
“We know students go to those programs and love them, and that’s why we’re choosing, over the summer, to spend a lot of energy trying to embed our academic work, our credit recovery, our tutoring and our acceleration work into those programs specifically,” Kihn said.
Starting in early April, DCPS also plans to announce its summer opportunities for students who are falling behind. Those programs are expected to help close to 7,000 students.
Schools Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee said some of those programs include an extended year for special education students, help for English language learners, credit recovery programs for high school students, and reading help for kindergarten through eighth grade.
Also, schools will be developing school-specific programs to help kids catch up.
Some of the options for students who may have fallen behind include one-on-one tutoring, for those in need of the most help, to acceleration academies, in which groups of seven to 10 students receive help catching up.
The summer camps and programs for kids will include virtual and in-person options.
Ferebee said parents will know by the end of March what will be available to their students.
The programs aimed at catching students up will only be open to students who need them, and Ferebee said parents should contact schools directly to find out for which offerings their child may be eligible.
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