When the school day ends at Washburn Elementary School, about 50 students stay for an after-school program that educators say is offering a range of benefits.
“I think they have a good time. We have a good time,” said Halina Herzog, Maine School Administrative District 45’s grant coordinator and program director.
Herzog oversees the district’s four-day-a-week, two-hour after-school program for students in grades 1 through 8. The program has been offered since 2009, funded with about $97,000 in annual funding from federal government’s 21st Century After-School Program, and it provides students with light academic, physical and social activities — all of which help pay education dividends, Herzog said.
“We’re pretty successful,” Herzog said. Last year, students attending the after-school program showed an average 85 percent improvement on reading tests, she said.
Teachers will recommend students who may show signs of academic challenges for the program, and students are also invited to sign up through parents. It brings together a mix of “lower performing” and “higher performing” students and different age levels, and it’s good for them to interact and participate together, Herzog said.
“Sometimes with kids their tests are not showing their full abilities,” Herzog said.
Students spend the two-hour blocks rotating through different activities in the areas of science and math, reading, arts and crafts, exercise and cooking. Many of the activities involve project-based learning, especially for the older grades, Herzog said. Several teachers and education staff run the program, along with four University of Maine Presque Isle student volunteers, who help with the activities and offer one-on-one tutoring.
The program also partners with community groups such as Wintergreen Arts Center in Presque Isle and the Washburn Recreation Department for activities such as cross country skiing. Once a year, the Children’s Stage Adventure youth theater group from New Hampshire spends a week leading the students in performing arts projects.
In the summer, the district runs a related, month-long voluntary summer program that offers a similar mix of academic programming, activities and field trips with the Washburn Recreation Department.
The after-school program “ties many different pieces of what a child needs together,” said Melanie Cote, Washburn Elementary’s principal. The variety of activities help with academics, exercise and social skills, she said.
“It’s a long day for some children. Some don’t get home until 5:30 or 6. But it does fill a need: that time between when school is done and when parents are home,” Cote said.
“There are some children who go home to an empty house. Rather than go home alone unsupervised, or they’re lonely or eating junk food, they can come here to the after-school program.”
Washburn Elementary’s after-school and summer programs are facing the risk of being discontinued. The federal 21st After-School Program grant offers school districts funding in multi-year cycles, but expects them to find other sources of funding eventually, said Cote.
The district is reapplying to the program this year, and is also examining the potential for other sources of funding, she added.
