After-school programs to return to Harrisburg but drastically scaled back

Harrisburg School District Financial Recovery Plan Service Director John J. George

A member of the district's new leadership team, Chris Celmer, chief operation officer, is introduced. Harrisburg School District Receiver Janet C. Samuels introduces Harrisburg School District Financial Recovery Plan Service Director John J. George, July 2, 2019. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com

After-school programs will resume in Harrisburg School District by the end of next month, but that’s true only at two grade levels, which new administrators admitted is drastically scaled back from what was offered last year.

And that’s all due to funding, according to Susan Sneath, the district’s chief academic officer, who reveled the details of the new after-school plan Monday evening.

“There used to be, in this district, a quite comprehensive after-school program. However, the funding for that is diminished significantly, so we have to rethink the way we target that after-school intervention,” she said.

Under the new plan, only children in third and fourth grades will be admitted into the programs — and only if their scores on assessment tests given to students earlier this year show that after-school help is warranted, Sneath said. That is true at each of the district’s elementary schools, she said.

Currently, the qualifying group includes about 545 students, she said. However, current funding for the programs cannot support that many children, Sneath confirmed.

The programs will be funded through federal dollars, specifically 21st Century Community Learning Center grants, which according to U.S. Department of Education officials is intended to support “the creation of community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours for children, particularly students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools.”

This year, Harrisburg has been allocated about $470,000 in 21st Century funding, which is enough to cover the cost of after-school programs — including supplies, educators, food and transportation — for between about 420 and 450 students, Sneath said.

Susan Sneath

Susan Sneath

So all 545 students who qualify cannot be accommodated, meaning they will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis, Sneath said. Parents are not required to enroll qualifying students in after-school programs, so enrollment numbers might not be an issue, she said.

Still, Sneath said the available spots likely will be “coveted," so enrolled students will be expected to meet regular attendance requirements.

In addition to academic help, students enrolled in the programs will receive emotional support and behavior training, Sneath said.

“We are excited to be able to offer something,” she said.

With that said, Sneath admitted that the district’s after-school programs will not be nearly as robust as before the district was taken over by the state and placed into receivership this summer.

Sneath said she believes the prior administration offered after-school services in all of its buildings, but to fund that they used the entire 21st Century allocation, as well as money necessary to cover day-to-day operations in the district. That’s something that Harrisburg cannot afford, she said.

Instead, new district leaders have chosen to rely on research to drive their decision to extend the programs to students in the third and fourth grades, she said.

“Research is very clear that if we can get our children up to grade-level by the time they are at the end of their third-grade year, their chances for successful graduation from high school increase significantly,” Sneath said.

Sneath said the announcement was made Monday in an effort to show that officials are being transparent about and careful with district funding.

Getting an accurate picture of the district’s financial standing has been a goal of the new leaders since they took over in June. And it’s a task that has proved daunting, officials have said, due to missing financial records in the district’s business office — a holdover from the prior administration.

Months later, new administrators feel they have completed “99 percent” of the work to give them a good understanding of the 2019-20 budget, Acting Assistant Superintendent Chris Celmer said Monday.

Work toward accurate numbers will continue, but district officials have scheduled a public budget presentation for 6 p.m. Nov. 12, when the district’s financial standing will be discussed, Celmer said.

“So that’s very exciting that we are at that point to be able to present that publicly,” he said.

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