Stimulus keeps Dalton summer program alive

Ruby Alvarado volunteered to solve a math equation on the board during her first day of summer school last week.

The rising eighth-grader is among about 250 Dalton Public Schools students in summer school programs, which the district struggles to pay for each year, administrators said.

Last year, the school district was able to pay for a summer program with Title I money, said Don Amonett, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning with the system.

All of the schools now are Title I, which means their student populations include many economically disadvantaged children, said Lisa Goode, principal at Blue Ridge Elementary School and director of the summer school program.

"In the past, high poverty has been correlated with children who struggle with achievement, so if we can give them a boost, then that's what we need to be doing," she said.

Ruby said the summer school program she attends four days a week will help her improve academically.

"It makes me better in class and on the CRCT (Georgia's standardized test), and it will make me a better student, too," she said.

Her teacher, Jennifer Sumner, said the extra support often helps students feel more confident in the classroom the following year.

"They preview information they might get the following school year, and it boosts their self-esteem," she said. "You definitely see it during the first few months of school."

This year school officials didn't know if they were going to be able to have a summer school program until about a month before the beginning of classes, Dr. Goode said.

"It's a tight budget for schools throughout Georgia. Everyone is trying to save money, and there was no state money available to fund the program," she said.

"So when Title I money came down it was decided this was a need, and that's how we wanted to spend part of it. We didn't know the amount, when it was coming, we really didn't know what we were getting. So we got a late start with all of it, but it came together nicely and we are here," she said.

The school district is getting more than a million dollars in stimulus money in two rounds, Mr. Amonett said. About $150,000 was used to pay for the summer school programs.

But next year, he said, the school district will have to figure out again how it can support the summer school programs.

"First of all we have to determine the success of our summer program," he said.

"If we look at that and the data shows it has been successful, then we will try to find funding for it," he said. "It doesn't look like the economy is going to turn around in the next few months."