Enrichment in Your School

[Sandy Pomerantz <spomeran@MAIL.PHILA.K12.PA.US>]

Dear Colleagues,
        I attend any of my school's School Council meetings that I can to
stay in touch with the pulse of the school and to put in my two cents when
I have an idea for or reaction to what's being planned.  Besides, the
meetings are held monthly in my library and include free dinner so I like
being there to make sure the room stays intact.  At this afternoon's
meeting, several related ideas were presented having to do with school
enrichment and improvement:
(1) Taking a survey of parents and students and finding out what they feel
is needed to improve the school like foreign language classes, extra
computer training, etc.
(2) Looking over our National and state test scores and offering help to a
core group of students from September on to see if their test scores and
grades can be improved.
(3) Offering extra enrichment in some way to bring back attendance of
neighborhood children on the brighter end of the spectrum who have been
attracted to special magnet school programs out of the neighborhood.
(4) I brought up the remote possibility that Clinton's request for extra
funding for more after school programs might go through, and that I've
always wanted to see the schools stay open later and perhaps on Saturdays
and offer stuff like languages, computer, library research, photography,
drama, chess, sports in the gym, etc., for students and even parents, and
as alternatives to TV, boredom, and the streets.

Three major problematic items at the core of all these ideas include:
TIME - Adding on an extra period to the school day one or more days a week?
           Adding more after-school related programs without the
constrictions of extra-curricular clubs
           (they might last longer, they might start later, etc.)?
           Saturday activities or classes?
PERSONNEL - Who will offer these classes or activities?  Present staff?
What if there aren't enough staff who are interested and qualified to offer
what is needed or desired?
MONEY - How do we pay for this? Adoption?  Grants? Other possibilities?
        Guess who offered to check the other schools in Philadelphia and
schools elsewhere to see what has already been tried and been successful,
or not?  Me, of course, and they said do it!
        So if any of you have had programs such as these in your school or
have something currently happening, please e-mail me privately about what's
been tried or is in progress and how the above three items have been
addressed.
                                Thank you so much for your time and attention,
                                             Sandy P. in Philly

"It's got to be the going not the gettin' there that's good." Harry Chapin
in song "Take the Greyhound"
"But then, you could go both ways!"  Scarecrow in movie "The Wizard of Oz"

Sandy Pomerantz, Librarian
Central East Middle School
236 E. Wyoming Ave.
Phila., PA 19120
(215) 456-3037
spomeran@phila.k12.pa.us

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