School really is out for summer at Morgan Hill high schools. The
school board voted 6-1 to cancel summer school at Live Oak and
Sobrato high schools
– a message that was relayed to parents and students early in
the school year.
School really is out for summer at Morgan Hill high schools. The school board voted 6-1 to cancel summer school at Live Oak and Sobrato high schools – a message that was relayed to parents and students early in the school year.
The cut was made official Tuesday night to save Morgan Hill Unified School District $200,000 in another difficult budget decision to reduce its $2.9 million deficit. The budget will be looked at once more before the books are closed in May.
Some children will still have options this summer – migrant programs, pre-kindergarten help and further guidance for middle school students with a D or F in seventh-grade pre-algebra will remain part of MHUSD’s summer curriculum.
Trustee Mike Hickey cast the lone vote against canceling summer classes. He referred to his seven years on the board when at meetings after summer school teachers would gush about how great of an experience it had been and how much it helped the children.
“I think to sit here and say, ‘it’s not going to have any impact’ is being naive,” Hickey said. “We’re kidding ourselves if we think this is just a budget item.”
Any dissection to the budget stings, but Superintendent Dr. Wes Smith did have an alternative for high school students who need to make up failed credits, which accounts for a large chunk of students who attend summer school.
Dr. Smith suggested using local agency Extreme Learning that is willing to work with MHUSD teachers on its summer school curriculum at no cost to the district and also hire MHUSD teachers to lead those classes. The catch is that families who want to – or must – attend the classes will have to pay the agency. Dr. Smith added that Extreme Learning has developed a sliding scale for low–income families to help ease the costs that otherwise wouldn’t exist if summer school was part of the public school offering.
For students in the free and reduced lunch program at MHUSD schools, summer school would be free at Extreme Learning, which is either four hours per day for four weeks or two hours per day for six weeks. Founder David Payne said that the more students who take summer school at Extreme Learning frees up more scholarships to help students who cannot afford the tuition – at its most expensive, students would pay $330 for three weeks of 60 hours of work, according to Extreme Learning co-founder Mary Smathers. The class could be extended over four weeks, too, for a higher price.
Some board trustees wanted high school counselors to suggest other agencies – some local and some online – to families, as to not show favoritism toward Extreme Learning. Other tutoring programs can provide similar rigor for students, they said.
Sobrato counselor Andrea Bird said that since informing students summer school wasn’t an option, they’ve taken classes more seriously.
“One thing we have noticed are marked improvements in demeanors of our students,” Bird said. “They know there’s not summer school to fall back on.”
The paid-for classes would be the “fall back” for high school students who are at-risk of not graduating or being held back a grade, and with 43 school days left, those at-risk seniors are running out of time to pick up their grades.
Trustee Shelle Thomas said that maybe it will teach students that they need to focus more during the spring and fall and not depend on summer, when class sizes are much larger and rigor is a concern. Trustee Julia Hover-Smoot said it’s a good decision because, “it transfers the responsibility back to the student.”
Hickey was concerned that not all families were informed of the changes, but Dr. Smith assured him that they had been. Live Oak’s Jennifer Protsman, who is the student representative for the school board, said it was told to students early on “there is no summer school this year.” Still, the board agreed that community outreach will be needed to make sure everyone knows of the options this summer.
Using money already allocated in “categorical funds” for migrant, pre–kindergarten and algebra readiness eliminates any reduction from the general fund, which is where the $200,000 savings comes from.
Pre-kindergarten students who are identified as needing extra help in enrollment interviews should receive aid just before school starts rather than in June, Dr. Smith said. Children are apt to forget what they’ve learned early in the summer and Dr. Smith wants to instead implement a “jump-start model right before the school year to give them the core skills they need to be more successful,” he said.
