Summer school programs prove to be popular, most districts programs full

ROGUE VALLEY, Ore. — School districts across Oregon are keeping students busy in fun and engaging ways this summer.

This comes after the state gave districts new funding to ensure students continue learning after a pretty tough last school year.

Arts and crafts, lego building, science experiments, and much more are being offered to kids aged kindergarten to 8th grade this summer.

The best part for parents? The summer sessions are free.

“We have been breaking open rocks, and we have these cool rock kits and check if they’re magnetic and like, look at the different minerals in them,” said incoming 5th graders at Central Point Elementary School, Carter Rosetto and Jackson Broughton. They’re a part of CPE’s Connect Summer Program.

If you couldn’t tell, they’re part of the geology session.

“It’s been fun,” said Rosetto, “and phenomenal,” chimed in Broughton.

“We can talk and breathe and not wear masks,” added Rosetto.

The Director of Education for Central Point School District, Christine Beck, says more than $2,000,000 in state funding came to the district.

It’s dividing the summer program into 3 sections.

“K-8 is for enrichment, its to build social emotion connection, help with peer to peer relationships after the past year we had. The second part of the funding for [grades] 9-12 that’s for credit retrieval and the third part is for child care,” said Beck.

Similar to Central Point, the Grants Pass and Medford School Districts are also receiving over $2,000,000 to keep students busy.

Grants Pass says it’s the first summer they’ve done a program like this.

“At our peak, we had over 270 kids registered for many sessions and it just provided a way to bring school kids back to the building in a fun and engaging way,” said Grants Pass School District Summer School Coordinator, Jill Gove.

MSD says this year’s summer experience is the largest in district history serving around 1,000 students.

“It is worksheet-free, hands-on, lots of fun, partnerships with outside agencies. It’s just a great time and we’re getting a lot of feedback from our families,” said Communications Coordinator for the Medford School District, Natalie Hurd.

One Central Point parent says she didn’t hesitate to sign up her children for the Connect Program.

“As soon as the email came out I said this is something I want my kids to do. Summer can be a downtime where they get kind of get crazy and don’t have any schedules. I wanted them to have a little bit of structure and also a bit of fun,” said parent Tonya Kocx.

The summer sessions began in June and will end in mid-August.

Most sessions are full, but districts encourage you to reach out and explore your options.

The Grants Pass School Dist. says you can call 541-474-5700 to try and get your child in.

The Central Point School Dist. says to visit district6.org to go on a waitlist.

The Medford School Dist. says it has some openings for middle schoolers. Call 541-842-1660 for more information.

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