Area districts look at August summer school, summer sports

As the end of the school year approaches, questions about summer school and meal programs are coming up.

Neelyville Superintendent Debra Parish said things with summer school, including the possibility of summer sports with some regulations, have not been decided, but are still on the table based on current discussions with the health department.

Dr. Scott Dill, Poplar Bluff R-I superintendent, said the district is still looking at what summer school will look like this year — including what dates it will run.

He said, historically summer school has been mandatory for certain students, but this break has impacted all students. Therefore, it won’t be mandatory since “that wouldn’t make sense.”

He did say summer school would be a good idea for students to attend, so students aren’t out of school for upwards of five months due to the break.

“In terms of staying on grade level, yes, summer school would help with that,” Dill said.

The hope, Dill said, is to be able to run normal summer school throughout June. However, if social distancing guidelines prohibit that, the district plans to meet students where they can — which will “likely be a virtual option.”

If that is the case, it would look differently than the virtual options have this spring.

Since summer school isn’t mandatory, the students who elect to participate can be moved to a virtual environment and move forward that way.

Dill said it would likely be more rigorous than the spring instruction.

He also said if the opportunity is there, he would like to have summer school late in the summer, such as August, as well.

“We’re going to have a very difficult year in schools across the state and across the nation while we attempt to recover the lost opportunities for learning, opportunities to master those essential standards,” Dill said. “We are hard at work making sure we’re prepared to meet kids where they’re at and take them where they need to be next year.

“Summer school is not a bad idea for anybody.”

Meal program

The R-I school district will continue the current meal program until May 21, the official last day of school. Dill said the district will then move to a summer school meal program.

“We don’t know exactly what that looks like at this point because those details have not been made available to us,” Dill said. “But, meal service will continue in one form or fashion through the summer just like we did last year.”

Neelyville does not normally offer meals during the summer, but, Parish said, the current meal program will run through June 30.