Afterschool program kids ready for parade
By BECKY BROOKS
Enterprise Editor
clydenews@bizwoh.rr.com
On Oct. 16, nearly 50 local children and their families will be participating in the "Lights on After School" Parade and ceremony in Fremont.
The event celebrates the Afterschool Programs in Sandusky County, including the program, which has been operating at South Main School for nearly seven years.
"It will be a nationwide, rally," explained Betty Kowalski, the local site administrator. The goal of the parade in Fremont is to get information about the program out into the community about what the Afterschool program is about.
The march will be from the Fremont Municipal building to Croghan and up to the Sandusky County Courthouse where there will be guest speakers, noted the woman who has an associate's degree from Terra Community College and is finishing her bachelor's in criminal justice at Tiffin University.
Betty Kowalski, who took over as the local supervisor in November 2006, said people have misconceptions about the Afterschool Program.
The Clyde-Green Springs program, which is now operated by WSOS, is funded through a 21st Century Grant with additional funding through Jobs and Family Services.
"Some parents think we're a baby sitting service," Kowalski said.
The program does provide a location for qualifying students to stay afternoon between 3:30 and 5:45 p.m. weekdays, but it also provides educational assistance.
"We try and focus on math and reading," the supervisor said, noting children who are accepted into the Afterschool program first must be qualified also for the free and reduced lunch program.
The local program is licensed and certified and therefore limited to 50 students, as there are three instructors. On any given day, there may be 40 youths in attendance due to children's other activities or schedules. Kowalski said teachers or principals can refer children to the program or parents can apply, but she noted there has been a waiting list for Clyde and Green Springs children to enter the program.
The Afterschool Program emphasis is to keep the child to instructor ratio at less than one to 18, she added.
Children arrive at South Main School at 3:30 p.m. from Green Springs and Vine Street schools by bus or stay after if they attend South Main.
For the first 30 minutes, the youths of all elementary grades through sixth grade use the restroom, wash their hands and have a snack.
Then at 4 p.m., work begins and the students spend time in their own classrooms at South Main School.
"We break down into groups by grades levels," Kowalski said. Children do homework and work in math and reading. The older children also are taught better study skills, she added.
If youths do not have homework, the coordinators provide education games and lessons for them that usually include hands-on learning skills. Part of the goal is to assist the children so they can test better on the required standard tests that Ohio school children must take.
Then at 5 p.m. until they are picked up at 5:45 p.m. the coordinators provide creative activities.
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