New Haven Independent

The CMTs were administered in every elementary grade this past March instead of in the fall as they have been in years past — so the scores aren’t in yet. And since mandatory summer school — mandated by the state, that is — was based on those results, the local Board of Education can’t require its students to forgo their summer fun for a month and come back into the hallowed halls to study readin’, writin’ and ‘rithmetic. Only third graders deemed to be at risk based on their other school work are required to attend summer school in order to proceed to fourth grade, because that requirement was established by the local board, not the state Department of Education, said Renee Chatham, an extended school hours program coordinator for the school system.

Which is not to say school personnel aren’t doing all they can to corral those youngsters in anyway. “We used district assessment to identify kids and ran an aggressive campaign to get kids to come,” said Chatham. “We made principals tell us which parents they communicated with. We sent letters home and talked to parents at parent-teacher conferences. It’s not like we don’t know who these at-risk kids are. But we can’t require them to come.”

Chatham said that when students had to attend the four-week, morning-long classes in past years, about 1,200 came. Transportation, breakfast and lunch were provided, and still are this year, along with strong encouragement. She said she won’t know until sometime after July 10 what attendance will look like. But she did say that the day after summer school started on July 5, more than 100 kids showed up at one school who were not registered in advance.

This is a transitional year, due to the change in giving the CMTs from every other year to every year, and from fall to spring. “Now we’re transitioning to summer ‘07, when the state is scheduled to set mandatory summer classes for K-8,” said Charles Warner, director of instruction for the extended school year.

A visit to East Rock School on Friday, the third day of the program, showed that lots of kids are coming to summer school. Kindergarteners (those who just finished kindergarten, like those in the photo above) were reciting letters, discussing vowels and consonants, learning to tell time, and waving their hands wildly to answer questions posed by their teacher, Marisa Turski (pictured), as kindergartners are wont to do. A fifth grade classroom held only nine kids (and, interestingly, eight of them were boys), but they seemed to be applying themselves to their spelling quiz. They’ll also do reading, phonics and math. The lone girl stood out for more than her gender — it was also her birthday. She said her mom made her come, but she was glad to be there, getting the help she needed to be ready for sixth grade.

One mother from the neighborhood said she’d received a letter urging her 11-year-old to come to East Rock for summer school, but informing her that it’s a voluntary program this year. “I think it would be a good idea so he doesn’t forget what he learned,” she said. “It’s only in the morning — he can still play in the afternoon.” She added that he’d prefer not to go, “but I think I’ll get him to go — it’ only for a month.” He hasn’t made it yet, and it was clear that the voluntary nature of the program made it seem less important, but maybe he’ll be one of the kids who show up for the first full week on Monday.