Clay County USD 379 talks to State Board about its `Summer of Learning'

Posted Date: 07/13/2021

After a school year of COVID-19, Clay County USD 379 teachers and administrators saw their students losing ground academically, socially and emotionally.

To help their students recover, they put together a summer school program that emphasized fun, local engagement and field trips. The six-week program was free to attend with meals and transportation also provided.

Clay County USD 379 officials talked to the State Board of Education on Tuesday about the district’s “Summer of Learning” activities.

District parents bought into the effort. In a district with 1,300 students, 70 percent of the students and 80 percent of incoming kindergarteners are attending the summer school. The school included swimming, construction and design, community activities, project-based learning, celebrating the founding of our country, studying the Olympics and more. District staff also went all-in — about 75 employees staffed the summer offerings.

Even though the district had in-person learning all year, students were in quarantine a total of 3,341 school days. A survey of students showed high numbers felt sad or hopeless much of the time.

Jaclyn Pfizenmaier, curriculum and instruction director, said students experienced quarantine and emotional trauma and “that did impact their ability to learn.”

Taking field trips was critical for the students because some hadn’t been outside the city limits for two years. When they took groups to the swimming pool, teachers found that many students hadn’t yet learned how to swim.

Like many Kansas schools districts, Clay County USD 379 is using part of its federal Elementary and Secondary Emergency School Relief (ESSER) funds to pay for the summer program and plans to continue it at least for the next few years.