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April 3, 2013
The Terrebonne Parish School Board voted to reapply for the 21st Century Community Learning Center Program grant at last Tuesday’s board meeting.
“It’s basically a renewal extension of a grant we already have,” said board member Debi Benoit, who wrote the original grant 13 years ago. “We have done a good job with this grant.”
The grant is awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, and the money helps to fund after-school programs at eight high-risk schools in the parish. The additional after-school help is currently offered to students from Elysian Fields Middle School, Oaklawn Junior High School, Village East School, Grand Calliou Elementary, Grand Calliou Middle School, Acadian Elementary, East Houma Elementary and Honduras Elementary.
“We can apply for up to $800,000 but we are applying for $600,000,” said Lydia Alleman, purchasing agent and grants specialist with the school board. “We did not apply for the grant from 2007-2009. We tried to sustain the program on our own, but with state retirement and budget cuts couldn’t, we couldn’t host the program. We have received the grant every other time we have applied for it, and it has been helpful. We felt the difference in the years that we did not have the grant, and we really need it now, especially since state tests for students are more stringent.”
The board will find out in June if it will receive the grant, and Alleman is confident the parish will be successful in securing the funds again.
“There were 100 applicants last year, and 17 grants were awarded,” she said. “I think our experience with the grant will help us get it again. We’ve had success with the program, and that should mean a lot.”
“The program is already in place, and we would like to keep it going,” said school system superintendent Philip Martin.
Students at Elysian Fields Middle School, Oaklawn Junior High School, Village East School, Grand Calliou Elementary, Grand Calliou Middle School are currently offered on-site tutoring for two and half hours four days a week through the program. There are about five tutors who are certified teachers at each school and many mentors, community members and high school students also help to teach the roughly 400 children in the after-school tutoring program. Students are helped with studies like math, science, social studies, music and art.
“These individuals’ build a relationship with the students, and we also try to get their families involved,” Alleman said. “Sixty-four percent of the parents who have children at these schools work, and these students are latchkey kids. These programs give them a place to get homework and projects done. We try to get the parents involved and show them how to help their children with programs they can use at home.”
While some students will continue their studies at the school they attend, children from Acadian Elementary, East Houma Elementary and Honduras Elementary will be bussed to Hope Extreme, a youth organization that hopes to make spiritual, community, and educational changes in the community, Monday through Wednesday for tutoring. The grant will also fund a seven-week summer program at the center.
“This is our first year to partner with Hope Extreme, and we have also partnered with local libraries,” Alleman said. “It is impressive what the organization has done with the grants and private donations it receives. Hope Extreme is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that that is eligible for different types of grants than the school system is, and there may be grants that we can apply for together.”
“This is a good partnership for us,” said Tara Detiveaux, Hope Extreme’s executive director. “This fits in with what we already do and the state’s requirements for the grant.”
The organization currently has 25 volunteers that each help out one day a week tutoring abiout 60 children, and Detiveaux believes that the center’s atmosphere has a positive effect on the students.
“It’s not like staying at school after school,” Detiveaux said. “The kids are away from the school setting and in a different environment and structure. They like the smaller group settings, and volunteers form relationships with the students.”
Amaryera Robertson, left, a third grade student at Acadian Elementary, is tutored by Robin Boquet of Bourg, a volunteer at Hope Extreme, while volunteer Kacy Jones assists Karra Alexander, a fourth grade student at Acadian Elementary. The Terrebonne Parish School Board will reapply for the 21st Century Community Learning Center Program grant that helps to fund the after-school program.
