Olympia schools report successful summer school for 2022

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The Olympia School District’s Board of Directors held a regular session on September 22 to discuss reports, including the summer school of 2022.

Executive Director of Elementary Education Autumn Lara spoke about the primary mission of summer school in engaging and accelerating learners who are reading below their grade level or need additional support.

“Our mission for summer school is really about getting students engaged in a different way and looking for some unique opportunities to bring kids together, have some fun, but also do a little learning along the way,” said Lara.

Some board members, including Vice President Darcy Huffman, shared their experiences observing the summer program.

“I was at the program. The kids just seem so happy and excited to be there with their parents. And so thank you very much for that because it is a lot of work, but it really does help our students. It really does make me feel like they belong here at OSD,” Huffman shared.

Director Scott Clifthorne asked the presenters whether the district assesses the number of students who received the invitation and the actual number of people who joined.

Lara stated that there are no specific data or evidence on that, but the district accepts those students who wanted to participate.“What I did find interesting in the numbers for the past few years [is that they]have been well above 200, and I found it very interesting this year that we had a bus,” Lara said, adding, ”Families participate, and I wonder if that's because we were a little more open this summer than we've ever been.”

Superintendent Patrick Murphy added that when working with the data during summer camps is not as easy as it seems because leaders often run into issues about correlation versus causation, and they also had to eliminate several factors.

“We did similar efforts in previous districts where it worked to really try and determine the impact. Certainly, members of the board know that causation is really hard to determine,” Murphy emphasized.

On the other hand, Executive Director of Secondary Education Elia Ala’ilima-Daley explained why there are lower summer school turnouts for the middle and high school levels.

“The summer school was six weeks for the high schoolers and four weeks for the middle schoolers, which is a really crunched amount of time if you're trying to gain credit. And if you put that into a high schooler's mind, especially for a student who may have struggled in the past, that's an extremely quick time to turn around for credit,” Ala’ilima-Daley said.

There were also issues because fewer parents expressed support for middle and high schoolers, unlike the younger elementary population.

“We don't really know why families were choosing to do different activities through the summer. Students may have had jobs, or they just may have, wanted to not have to go to school for a little bit and take a break because, as we know, it's gonna be a tough couple of years,” Ala’ilima-Daley added.

The board’s next regular meeting is scheduled for October 13, 2022, with both online and offline options.

Photo caption: The Olympia School District’s Board of Directors held a regular hybrid session last September 22 to discuss reports, including the summer school of 2022.

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