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Council Watch
Council gives go-ahead to city-sponsored after-school study center
CUSD will begin pilot program for fifth-graders at middle school
By Genevieve Roja
Parents and students at Campbell Middle School will be glad to know that a city-sponsored, after-school homework center is opening its doors soon.
Last Tuesday, the Campbell City Council approved the proposal, which will initiate a pilot program at Campbell Middle in partnership with the Campbell Union School District this year. Two other schools in the district already have a homework center in place, including Rolling Hills and Monroe middle schools. Both schools operate their center thanks to a grant from the city of San Jose.
"We're very excited to have a partnership with the city," CUSD assistant superintendent Gerry Chartrand said. "We feel it's going to be a good partnership that will benefit children. It's a small pilot, and I hope it will grow to something bigger and better."
The tentative start date for the program is Oct. 18, although Claudia Cauthorn, the city's director of recreation and community services, admitted at the meeting that she and others involved with the program will scramble to meet the date. The program would run from 3:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with the exception of Wednesday, which are early dismissal days. On Wednesdays the program begins an hour earlier, at 2:15 p.m. There will be approximately three teachers on staff, who will be deemed city employees, although the district will help recruit teachers.
The cost per child will be $45, which comes out to less than $3.75 an hour; enrollment will not exceed 25 students. If the program is not filled by fifth-graders--originally the focus of the proposal--they will be joined by sixth-graders. CUSD will take care of each student's registration at Campbell Middle School and will also provide classroom space.
"For a long time, there's been an issue of concern not only in Campbell but in cities across the country about children after school and what they're doing until their parents get home," said Mayor Dan Furtado following Cauthorn's report. "This helps to establish an initial effort on our part to address the issue in our community."
Council member Matthew Dean asked Cauthorn how financial arrangements could be made for parents who couldn't afford to pay for the program's tuition. Dean was concerned that the $170 fee might exclude some children from the program.
"I would like to see us find a more aggressive way [to see] whether we use volunteers or whether some of the high schools have an amount of service credit they have to get to graduate," said Dean on lowering the program's costs so it could be more inclusive. "I'd like to see staff try to look at incorporating that with the school district and high school district."
There will be a limited scholarship fund, Cauthorn said. Cauthorn also informed council that Campbell Middle has an existing after-school tutorial for students who need additional help with their schoolwork. That service is free of charge to Campbell Middle students.
Council member Robert Dougherty asked that the program's dismissal time be extended to 6 p.m., instead of 5:30. Cauthorn informed him that the school district's preference was to end at 5:30, but assured Dougherty she could re-open the issue with the district.
"Certainly a pilot program will allow us to make changes," Cauthorn said.
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Campbell, California
