Districts to receive funds for programs

Students in Glendale and Burbank unified school districts can

continue to look forward to a safe place to get help with homework,

experience dance and music, and create their own web pages thanks to

grants from the state.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell

announced the award of the renewable three-year After School

Education and Safety Program grants Thursday, to the kindergarten

through ninth-grade after-school programs of 95 California School

Districts including those in Burbank and Glendale.

Burbank will receive $230,575 a year for three years its program

and Glendale will receive $421,875 a year for three years.

School districts had to apply for the competitive grant, and the

amount each received was based on the number of low-income students

in the schools that participate the programs.

The Burbank Unified School District program, Partners Accelerating

Learning for Students, serves Providencia Elementary School, Luther

Burbank Middle School and the district’s partner in the program,

Fairgrove Academy in La Puente.

The program works on academic enrichment and provides constructive

alternatives for after-school activities for students, said Susan

Boegh, the district’s director of educational support services.

“We are so very pleased,” Boegh said of receiving the grant. “It

has had such positive results with the literacy enrichments, and also

with the alternatives it makes possible to the students.”

After a homework period, students can participate in recreational

playground or arts and crafts activities. They also have a chance to

work with computers, making Web pages or using graphics programs, she

said.

“It provides such high-quality after-school options,” Boegh said.

“Without the grant we would not be able to offer them.”

The Glendale Unified School District program, Learning in

Neighborhoods So Kids Can Succeed, serves low-income students in

kindergarten through eighth grade at Wilson Middle School and

Columbus, Edison, Jefferson, Balboa and Marshall elementary schools.

The after-school program partners with various community

organizations to provide activities. In years past, students were

offered dance and music activities through a partnership with Armory

Center for Arts in Pasadena. The program will now be partnering with

the Orange County Science Discovery Center.

“We’ve been real excited, its been such a positive thing,” said

Anita Tetrault, the district’s director of early education and

extended learning. “The students are excited to be doing all these

different things, too.”

Glendale’s program provides after school tutoring and homework

support that align with state mathematics and language standards,

Tetrault said.

“We’re also supporting the academic program, it’s going to help

the students with their work in the classroom,” she said. “We

reinforce what’s being taught in the classroom and offer assistance

to students and that’s really positive, too.”

Glendale’s program has served 4,516 students.