AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS ARE SET TO BE EXPANDED.Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer SUN VALLEY - Educators call them ``demotes'' - teenagers held back one, two and even three grades because of lagging Lagging Strategy used by a firm to stall payments, normally in response to exchange rate projections. reading and math skills. But thanks to a $1.25 million grant awarded to Francis Polytechnic High School, these students are making huge strides in after-school programs - so much so that the programs will be expanded this year to handle 250 students, double the current number. ``It's been incredible - 90 percent of the kids have improved their grades,'' Francis Poly Principal Janis Fries Martinez said of the semester- long mentoring and teaching program. ``They're passing their classes, and attendance has improved. ``These are kids who don't have sports, don't have jobs, they (had) failing grades and not a lot of support skills at home.'' Last year, the California Department of Education The California Department of Education is a California agency that oversees public education. The Department oversees funding, testing, and holds local educational agencies accountable for student achievement. awarded six Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County high schools $6.1 million over five years for after-school programs for underserved teens. In addition to Francis Poly, grants were awarded to high schools in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Pasadena. The grants were awarded under the 21st Century High School After School Safety and Education for Teens program - the first state-run after-school program in the nation. This year, Poly will double the number of students in the program from 120 to 250 students. Classes of 25 students each range from English to math to training in computers, photography, cooking and nutrition and possibly ceramics. The 90-minute classes, run by the Van Nuys-based Keep Youth Doing Something, or KYDS KYDS Keep Youth Doing Something KYDS Thousands of Yards , augment aug·ment v. aug·ment·ed, aug·ment·ing, aug·ments v.tr. 1. To make (something already developed or well under way) greater, as in size, extent, or quantity: current after-school programs in Los Angeles schools The Los Angeles School of Urbanism is an academic movement emerged during the mid-1980s, loosely based at the University of Southern California and UCLA, that poses a challenge to the dominant Chicago School of Urbanism. . ``What Poly is doing is not only teaching math and language, but reaches out in extracurricular activities to try to capture more kids,'' said John Liechty, associate superintendent of the Beyond the Bell program for the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. . Some say such programs also cut down on crime. ``When you consider that teenagers commit most juvenile crime, increased investment in after-school programs that are proven to reduce criminal activity is just common sense,'' said Barrie Becker, director of the Oakland-based Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California, an Oakland-based child-advocacy group. Dana Bartholomew, (818) 713-3730 dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com |
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