Audio clip
Laurie Shipley
A new state grant will allow struggling students at two local high schools to spend part of summer vacation in front of computer screens and make up lost credits.
Chattanooga’s Department of Education, Arts and Culture received a $6,000 grant to join with the Hamilton County Virtual School to provide a six-week summer course for 12 students from Brainerd High School and Howard School of Academics and Technology.
The classes will be held at the Brainerd and South Chattanooga recreation centers from June 9 through July 18, officials announced.
“Because of the high level of economic disadvantage, low graduation rate and the suspension rate, (Brainerd and Howard) are probably the two high schools with the greatest need in Hamilton County,” Debi Crabtree, coordinator of the school system’s virtual school, said last week.
By April, guidance counselors from both schools will submit names of six students they think would most benefit from this program.
“We’re looking for kids who have regular attendance in school already,” Ms. Crabtree said. “We’re looking for the kids who may not be your star students, but with encouragement and structure, we can help them achieve success.”
Classes offered could be core math, science or reading courses, or electives.
Upon successful completion of the program, participating students will receive a $50 bonus.
The virtual school will provide lab facilitators to help students navigate their coursework. The grant money will pay for online instruction programs and instructors.
Laurie Shipley, marketing and development director for EAC, has worked with Chattanooga Matters, a coalition of local churches, to provide sack lunches for the students each day. She also said CARTA has agreed to donate free bus passes to any student needing transportation to the recreation centers.
If this summer’s pilot is successful, Ms. Shipley said she would like to see it become an after-school program year-round at other local recreation centers.
“This could be life-changing for a student,” she said.
SUMMER PROGRAM
* Who: 12 students from Brainerd and Howard high schools
* What: Virtual summer school
* When: June 9 to July 18
* Where: Brainerd and South Chattanooga recreation centers
Source: Chattanooga Department of Education, Arts and Culture
Kelli Gauthier covers K-12 education in Hamilton County for the Times Free Press. She started at the paper as an intern in 2006, crisscrossing the region writing feature stories from Pikeville, Tenn., to Lafayette, Ga. She also covered crime and courts before taking over the education beat in 2007. A native of Frederick, Md., Kelli came south to attend Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in print journalism. Before newspapers, ...
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