“They’re probably a little fatigued, but the point the schools we’re trying to make was to get the students back in for remediation and just to get them acclimated to the school site," said Dr. Brenda Lewis, Associate Superintendent of Instruction for the Kern High School District.
Back to school takes on a whole new meaning for some KHSD students for a couple of reasons: they haven’t been at school in person for 18 months and more than half of the 40,000 students are getting in the classroom earlier than usual this summer.
“So we predict an increase of students by 4168 over the 2019 summer school enrollment.”
With almost twice as many summer school teachers from more than 440 to 800 plus a larger course selection than years prior, the traditional core course will be offered to students over the morning, afternoon, evening, and Saturday sessions. Another change comes in the form of the electives which have increased.
“We usually have very minimal electives during the summer, but as you can see, we have everything from beginning art, history of rock and roll, student leadership, construction, mechanics, so a variety of electives offerings to get our students back into the classroom.”
These plans could bring challenges, Lewis says 18 months of virtual learning may render some students unmotivated to attend during the summer. With a large number of expected summer school students, they have to somehow get them into the classroom while following COVID-19 protocols. There’s also the chance of protocols changing on June 15.
“This is when we may have new guidance from the governor, so we don’t know how that will impact summer school. One positive way it could impact summer school is if there are lessened requirements like social distancing, it could get students that are on waiting lists for in-person instruction to be able to come in and fill those in-person classes.”
