SWAMPSCOTT — The school district will offer a six-week academic program this summer to help students get back on track after disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The program will run for four hours a day from July 5 to Aug. 13 and will be available for students going into grades one through 12. The administration has reached out to students who have been identified as needing academic support to invite them to the program, but expects to open it up to all district families in the coming weeks.
“We have a more robust, in my opinion, learning loss summer program than what DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) is offering,” said Superintendent Pamela Angelakis at Wednesday’s School Committee meeting. “We’re really excited.”
The program will be project based, with students working on “high-interest” projects along with academic instruction in writing, reading and math.
High-school students will be able to recover missing credits or earn an additional semester’s worth of credits toward graduation. Students will be graded on a pass/fail basis.
The program will offer 200 seats to district students, and if those seats are not filled by invited students they will be offered to anyone who is interested.
Dr. Jean Bacon, the district’s director of teaching and learning, said the district is working with families who may be taking vacations or may be unable to attend for one of the six weeks, allowing them to enroll for the remainder of the program. Students who are unable to attend for more than one week are being accepted on a case-by-case basis.
“Our general feeling is it’s better to be there for some of the time than not at all,” Bacon said. “We’re trying to be very generous in accommodating families whose students have an academic need.”
The program is separate from the district’s annual summer offerings for special education students and will be free for all families. It will be funded by ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) grants.
“This learning-loss work is not going to be over in one summer. It’s not going to be over in one school year,” Angelakis said. “It’s going to be a couple years, and we all accept that.”
