This year the Kearny School District will be having summer enrichment programs that will supplement students with educational and fun filled activities after our first virtual school year. I had the chance to interview Superintendent Blood and Dr. Levchak, the District Supervisor of Federal Programs, about the program.

Firstly, Superintendent Blood said “We are very excited to be able to expand our summer program this year and hope that our students will take advantage of the offerings. We are thrilled that the programs offered are being fully-funded through federal program grants that have been made available for this year and will be at no cost to our school students. We are looking forward to offering a full complement of classes during the six week program.”

The district has always offered summer programs for students in the elementary and middle school, but attendance was limited to specific groups of students. We knew that this year, more than ever, offering summer learning opportunities would be beneficial to our students. As a result, we started the planning process by creating programs that expanded upon what we already had in place from previous school years.

Some of the classes offered for high school students will give them the “hands on” experience with what they have been learning throughout the school year. For example, it will give culinary students the opportunity to work in the kitchen alongside their teacher for a more authentic experience. Core subjects classes (English, Math, and Science) will be offered to assist students in building their confidence in skills they learned throughout the year.

The deciding factor of which classes are offered will be based on student interest and teacher availability.

The program is expected to run from the week of June 28th and conclude the week of August 2nd based on a survey parents completed in March. Classes will begin in the morning, Monday-Thursday, for 2 to 4 hours depending on the class.

Given the ever-changing times we are in, the coordinator team developing this program have considered and will continue to consider various factors that could impact the structure of the program, while always keeping the health and safety of the students and staff as the number one priority.

Some classes/activities that are being discussed are language arts, math, science, classes for ESL students, culinary, music, dance, art, and fitness, to name a few. 

Registration information will be sent around late May or early June. For health and safety reasons, classes will have limited sizes and many will be “first come, first served.” They hope that they will be able to offer in-person classes. Dr. Levchak believes “It is important for parents of students who are interested in attending to register as soon as possible.” Families will be notified via genesis and phone call.

Superintendent Blood and Dr. Levchak are thrilled to offer these programs at no cost to Kearny families!