Plum School District summer programs designed to help students’ grades, mental health impacted by pandemic
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Plum School District officials understand the covid pandemic has impacted families greatly the past year and plan to offer a summer program to help students’ mental health and grades.
“One of the big shifts going into this summer is: We’ve been hearing from our teachers and administrators and families that we have students that have struggled during remote learning,” said Rick Walsh, deputy superintendent. “We understand there are a lot of families going through some difficult times. We want to make sure we’re not only meeting their needs, but they have the advantage of taking these courses.”
Many offerings are free, including counseling services, tutoring, grade replacement, credit recovery programs and supplemental online resources.
Summer programs hosted by the district but offered through a third-party provider, such as the STEM Camp Invention, come with a fee.
The summer program is scheduled for June 21 through July 29.
There will be in-person activities daily from 9 a.m. to noon and virtually from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Turtle Creek Valley Community Services has partnered with the district to offer mental-health services to students in grades 7-12.
Tutoring services will be available for all students throughout the summer at Center and Holiday Park elementary schools.
Credit recovery is available to high school students who failed a course due to the pandemic.
Grade replacement is available to students in grades 7-12 who want to improve on their grades earned during the school years. Both programs are similar in that their summer grade will replace the existing mark on the students’ transcripts.
However, students who seek grade replacement must receive approval from school administration prior to scheduling the course, according to the summer program handbook.
Both credit recovery and grade replacement will take place at the high school.
Camp Invention will be at Holiday Park and open to students in grades 1-8.
It’s designed to build interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Students in grades 7-9 can sign up to be leaders-in-training for the STEM camp. Sophomores, juniors and seniors can sign up to be leadership interns and earn up to 40 hours of volunteer service at the camp.
Email Jenielle Doty at dotyj@pbsd.net for more information about those opportunities.
Other details, such as a deadline for summer program registration and amount of children expected to participate, are still being finalized.
“We’re going to try to meet as many needs of students as we can,” Walsh said. “I’m proud of the fact that our administrative team and teachers worked collaboratively to meet the needs of our students academically, socially and emotionally leading into the summer.”
The program has the support of the school board.
“I think this is a great opportunity for kids, especially ones who are struggling academically,” board president Mike Devine said. “They can really focus on the areas that they struggled in, not repeat grades, and walk with their class for graduation.”
More information is available on the district’s website and summer program handbook.