News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
An $89,000 federal grant will help Sisters Middle School students meet new, more rigorous academic standards.
The grant funds, part of a more than $500,000 package awarded to the Deschutes County Educational Service District, will fund tutoring and summer school programs through the Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation.
"We're really going to be able to get into offering some academic help programs, some tutoring classes," said SOAR director Tom Coffield.
According to Coffield, with students facing testing for the state-mandated Certificate of Initial Mastery in the 10th grade, some middle schoolers are falling behind.
"Already, now, in middle school, you see kids that, if they don't get some help, they're just plain not going to make it," Coffield said.
Tutoring will be offered in language arts, reading, math, science and computers.
The grant designates $45,000 to pay tutors. Teachers on the middle school staff will be given first crack at the tutoring positions, according to Coffield, though their service would be under the auspices of SOAR rather than their teaching contract. Additional tutors will be recruited from the community.
Parents may enroll their children in the program directly, according to Coffield, or they may be referred by a teacher with parental approval.
SOAR will also run a series of summer school academic camps funded through the grant, Coffield said.
According to Coffield, some of the grant money will be used to remodel the SOAR facility on the middle school campus to create a Sisters Middle School Youth Center. The center will be open after school until 8 p.m. and provide a place for students to socialize and work on homework.
Tutoring will be offered at the center from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
SOAR has also received an $11,000 grant in partnership with the Family Access Network and the Juvenile Empowerment Team for a program to help "at-risk" youth.
"It's strictly for kids who haven't gone into juvenile diversion yet, but they're at risk; maybe they've been getting in trouble at school," Coffield said.
The pilot program will provide counseling and scholarship opportunities to participate in SOAR programs that will hopefully steer the youths away from a course toward real trouble.
SOAR participants will have an easier time getting around to activities in the organization's used 15-passenger minibus, purchased with funds donated from a Black Butte Ranch resident.
According to Coffield, SOAR's recent success in creating a recreation district has been a "major factor" in obtaining significant grant funding.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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