WEST AFTER SCHOOL CENTER
NEWS & OPINION

August 2009

Our mission is to provide opportunities that enrich the educational, social, and cultural experiences of students and families in our community.

620 Garfield Avenue, Lancaster, OH  43130 

740-653-5678  --  740-653-2402 FAX

Email:  pyoung@westafterschoolcenter.org

Visit us at www.westafterschoolcenter.org

Dr. Paul G. Young

WASC Executive Director

Mrs. Chris Kuttler

Officer Manager

Mrs. Julie Bibler, Site Director

West After School Center

Mr. Moses Garcia, Site Director

Cedar Community Learning Center

Mr. Rob Libbee, Site Director

East Community Learning Center

What’s Ahead for the West After School Center?

June 30, 2009, marked a milestone in the history of the West After School Center. Our initial 21st CCLC grant expired that day and we also were notified that  we had been awarded a new, 5-year  21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) grant to provide continuing services for students at East and West Elementary Schools. Assuming that we meet all the compliance requirements established by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) and that the U.S. Congress continues to fund this program, we plan to be in business for the next five years!

ODE awarded 106 new, 5-year 21st CCLC grants effective July 1. With our experience and track record, we serve as a model for new and existing community and school-based programs. We are often called upon to mentor after-school colleagues across the state. Mentors learn and gain as much as their mentees. It is a wise investment of time to network, share, and discover best practices, and we strongly encourage our staff and board members to do that. What we bring back to Lancaster through mentoring activities further enriches our programs and services and benefits our children and families.  

Our board of directors and staff are to be commended for setting high expectations for themselves and staying focused on our mission and goals. We also receive and appreciate tremendous support from many long-time volunteers, leaders within the Lancaster City Schools, and our community partners. Our success—and longevity— is because of a vibrant team and community effort.

In the coming months, we will be busy planning and developing extended learning opportunities to be established in the rest of our city. We will determine the feasibility of expanding the summer lunch program to other communities in Fairfield County. There are growing needs that we are being asked to address. It is an exciting time. We plan to accomplish great things in the years before June 30, 2014.

Summer Lunch Program

             The FEED OHIO and Summer Food Service Program runs through Friday, August 14.  Lunch is served daily here at the WASC, 11:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m. and at eight other locations in Lancaster:

             Each day this summer, WASC staff members have prepared, distributed, and served an average of 500 lunches.  Over 9,000 were served in the month of June!

             We appreciate the support provided by the Ohio Department of Education, Governor’s Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives, the Children’s Hunger Alliance, the First Presbyterian Church, the Sherman Rotary, and the Lancaster City Schools in helping make this community service possible.

CHECK THIS OUT!
The "Eat Smart. Play Hard" website provides practical tools to help you motivate children and their caregivers to eat healthy and be physically active. Messages and materials are fun and based on MyPyramid and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

The Benefits of Enrolling Children in Summer Learning Programs

For some kids, summer means camping, family trips, and frequent visits to museums, parks, and libraries. But for others, it means long days alone without meaningful and engaging learning activities. Summer learning programs provide:

· continued interaction with trained teachers and access to books, computers, and other learning tools.

· opportunities to remediate and enrich academic skills.

· a safe, secure, and fun place to engage in a variety of recreational activities.

· healthy meals, snacks, and medical care.

For more than one hundred years, studies have shown that for many children, summer vacation means that learning loses momentum and opportunities for valuable skill development ceases. It is also a time when children often gain excess weight.  If you know children who are wasting away valuable learning time during June, July or August, help their parents learn more about the opportunities and advantages of summer learning programs.

What is the Status of After-school Nationally?

A report entitled, Uncertain Times 2009, from the Afterschool Alliance, describes the state of after-school in the current economic recession based on survey results from April.

1. Afterschool programs are serving a high need population. On average, 67% of kids qualify for free/reduced price lunch, 14% are Limited English Proficient and 11% have special needs/disabilities.

2. Unemployment, failing/shrinking businesses, high food prices and more kids going hungry with families struggling are the top ways in which communities are affected.

3. About 6 in 10 programs report a loss in funding due to the recession, with 1 in 10 reporting a significant loss that will cause cutbacks to the program or cause one or more sites to close.

4. Nearly one-half of program leaders (47.4 percent) report their budget is inadequate to meet the needs of students and families.

5. 69 percent report that funding is less than secure for the next 1 to 2 years and 83 percent report funding is not secure for next 3 to 5 years.

6. 86 percent say more kids need afterschool in their community.  

Learn more at: afterschoolalliance.org

Perseverance

[Perseverance, n.—[pur-suh-veer-uhns] synonymns: insistence, urgency, firmness, resolve, and determination]

One of the most important skills kids need to succeed in school and life is perseverance. Without a doubt, good grades, positive attitude, and social skills are important. But we all know stories about individuals lacking a formal education that still achieved success. The reality is, we must do all we can to assure that all kids are equipped with this essential human quality. We must teach it, practice it, foster it, model it, and hold kids accountable for their responsibilities and assigned tasks.
 

Children aren’t guaranteed success with perseverance, but there is a strong correlation with failure for those without it. In schools and after-school programs, we need to teach children what perseverance is, its nature, and the need for it in school and the workplace. It is important that kids learn to put perseverance into practice in every aspect of their lives. Perseverance needs to be taught alongside the teaching of the basic core curriculum. Collectively as adults, we must cultivate the importance of this important characteristic. And we have to show kids how to do it by our example.
 

Unfortunately, too many kids watch their family members accumulate absences and drift in and out of jobs, quitting when they face barriers that overwhelm them. Kids with these surroundings need role models and focused instruction, and it must be present in every learning environment in schools and after-school programs. We intend to create those opportunities.
 

Children fail to persevere because of two reasons. The first is that they see no value in the task at hand and lack motivation to complete it. The second is because they have no practice at persevering. At early ages, when they are not encouraged —or allowed—to persevere, they never really learn how to do it. So, we must create learning tasks that are meaningful to them and help them develop the habit of practice—deliberate practice—of the specific tasks that pose the greatest barrier to their success. When they get down, they must learn to practice getting back up. Perseverance becomes second-nature with kids that learn to succeed.
 

Perseverance can’t be taught from a book. Instead, adults must discover what is important to each child and develop relationships with them. Then we have to show them how to practice perseverance by our example and show them how not to give up. How many bosses would allow you to give up and quit an important work-related task?
Perseverance can’t be taught sporadically. It must be a constant focus, an ethic, and a value in all learning environments. We must hold our learners—and ourselves—to a higher standard of accountability for their failure. We must stop enabling and condoning non-conformity to rules and expectations.
 

Success is found in old-fashioned basic concepts like hard work, determination, good planning, and perseverance. Let’s get back to teaching these important basic skills during this new school year.

Plans now are to seek more Head Start funding and change these units back to Head Start classes, yet some of the children’s families may not qualify under those guidelines - and Head Start officials at Community Action may not be successful in their attempts to make this happen. It’s wait and see. We hope for the best for these kids!

Watch our Television Show on  the LSN

Channels 6 or 9 digital - Time Warner Cable

New episodes air at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.  Look for our "Summer Activities Show" playing in August.