Sixth grader Patrick Kotowski tapped out the answers to a series of questions on a computer keyboard. He was among about 30 children bent over Mac computers at the ACE Center in Midtown School. His screen displayed a series of questions for him to answer.
“You just answer what they ask,” said Kotowski, who is in the sixth grade. The questions changed depending on the story he was trying to create. When he was finished, he hit the return key and the information flowed out. His eyes lit up when he read the passages he had helped create.
So far, Kotowski had written a story about goals and soccer, working his way through a list of subjects – reading through each story after he had completed the questionnaire.
Fourth grader Julian Minyety used another program that incorporates cartoons in its storytelling. The screen offered him options that he clicked with the mouse, then followed the story through a series of panels, reading off each caption frame by frame.
Patrick and Julian were part of an ongoing program that gives kids a place to go after school called Lights on After School, which allows them to study or keep entertained during those hours after regular schooling ends and prior to when their parents can pick them up.
Midtown Community School was one of 5,000 sites across the nation that celebrated Lights on After School last week, where school officials hoped to send a message to the public that schools are staying open longer in order to accommodate the needs of the community.
Although officials gathered at Midtown Community School, Bayonne offers a variety of after-school options at several schools. These programs are designed keep kids safe, help ease concerns of working parents about their children, and improve students’ academic performance by providing them with a place and environment where they can study and do homework.
Community schools not new
This is not a new concept in Bayonne, where “community schools” have existed for more than five years. A community school is one that keeps its doors open longer than just the school day, providing opportunities for students and others to use the facilities for a variety of programs.
Midtown Community School, for instance, has an active Police Athletic League program that actually started with the opening of the schools in 1992. The PAL has a daycare program and night baseball. But over time, this school has become a hub of community activities running from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.
Activities can include those for students and adults, such as the senior swim program at Lincoln School and some of the senior activities conducted at Henry Harris School. Washington School opened its doors to a variety of after-school programs about two years ago because the district felt the need to have a community school uptown.
Bayonne jumped onto the concept of Lights On After School the moment it began five years ago.
“The first was Henry Harris,” said Schools Superintendent Dr. Patricia McGeehan.
The after-school programs currently accommodate about 75 kids per school and run on a six-week cycle for fall, winter and spring. They provide a structure where kids can learn and have fun. Teachers help with homework and the program provides snacks. Some of the programs are fee-based, in order to provide revenue to keep them going.
Midtown ACE Center will be a model for the state
The program at Midtown Community School uses the ACE Center and its study center, a community program that also encourages the family members of students to come in as well, especially those who need the resources to enhance their language skills. The program was funded by $300,000 in grants from the New Jersey Department of Education.
Midtown Community School Principal Christina Mercun Milan said one of the most recent changes has been the partnering of the district’s adult education program with the ACE Access Center.
“The grant runs out at the end of this year,” Milan said. “This guarantees that the facility will still be a benefit to the community.”
Monica M. Flynn, director of community education, which oversees the after-school programs, said the Midtown School program is designed for younger children, especially those who may need assistance with English as a Second Language or students who are considered at risk of doing poorly in some subject. But she said any student can use the facility. She noted that after-school programs offer needed support to working families and provide a safe place where students can keep occupied while waiting for parents to return home from work. These programs help make the community stronger by involving students, parents, business leaders and volunteers, and by giving students a chance to interact with each other socially.
Milan agreed, saying that while the programs in Midtown School provide many of the foreign-speaking students with additional educational support, the center gives everyone a resource.
“This facility is used during the day, after school, and for evening workshops,” Milan said.
Midtown has also partnered with Sunflower Center, a facility that provides care to senior citizens and people with disabilities. “They come in once a month during the day,” Milan said.
In December, the school will be hosting a conference at the center which will bring in educators from throughout the state.
“The State Department of Education wants to use our center as a model for the state,” she said.
Contact Al Sullivan at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com