By Cathy Higgins
BAY MINETTE, Ala. — If federal funding is any indication, Baldwin County Public School System’s After School Program for more than 1,400 K—12 students is a strong one.
During the Baldwin County Board of Education’s regular work session in Bay Minette last week, After School Childcare Superviser Cherry Penn announced that the program had received all eight 21st Century grants that she applied for this year.
“I’d hoped to receive two or three,” she told the board. “(I) never imagined we would receive all eight we applied for.”
Along with grants that aren’t in need of renewal, that amounts to $1.6 million in federal funding that will enable the program to charge less than the $7 per-day self-sustaining programs, in which an instructor works with no more than 18 students.
“Grant programs can charge as little as $5 per week, while providing additional enrichment opportunities at no additional cost to parents,” Penn said. “Grant ratios can be as small as one to five or a maximum of one teacher to 15 students.”
The After School Childcare superviser explained that the school system’s status as a Title I school “with 40 percent of students eligible for free or reduced lunches” qualified it to apply for the 21st Century funding. However, its implementation of past funding is what made the newly acquired grants possible.
“In Baldwin County, these programs provide what the federal government is looking for,” Pen said, “a safe and academically enriching atmosphere for students.”
That includes a snack from the Child Nutrition Program, tutoring, computer classes, video design and such enrichment opportunities as Mobile Symphony and Opera, archery, dance classes and introduction to additional fine arts. Additionally, the sites also spur academic achievement.
“For example, last year on the SAT 10 at Loxley Elementary, 49 (21st Century) CCLC students took the exam,” Penn told the board. “Thirty-five percent improved in reading, and 42 percent improved in math.”
That effort has earned the program several state honors since 2004, the superviser said, citing a list that included four-time Extended Day Director of the Year and six-time Principal of the Year.
Penn added that the program’s success is enabling her to take part in a state advisory board for community education that has a goal of forming an Alabama After School Network.
“Forty other states have an After School Network,” she told the board, “and I think it will be an asset for Alabama.”
