SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - The San Diego Unified School District is developing its plan to bring tens of thousands of students to its campuses for summer school.
On Wednesday, School Board President Richard Barrera told ABC 10News that the program is designed to help students recover from the academic, social, and emotional impact of the pandemic.
In less than five weeks, SDUSD is expected to open its campuses back up for the return of thousands of students, but the district is already looking ahead to the summer and the need to get kids back on track.
"We certainly will be targeting and encouraging students who we're particularly concerned about as falling behind academically or have experienced a lot of social and emotional trauma over the last year," said Barrera.
The summer school program was presented during Tuesday night's board meeting. Susan Guinn with the San Diego Foundation told attendees, "We look forward to ensuring an incredible and enriching summer for students because, you know what? They deserve it."
SDUSD reported that 20% of seniors are not on track to graduate in June. Barrera told ABC 10News that figure is on par with where the district typically is at this point in the year.
In years past, summer school has been reserved for the few hundred seniors who need credits to graduate. This year, summer school will be open to all ages.
"We're talking about four-week modules for elementary and middle school students and two three-week modules for high school students," he added.
The proposed plan is to have students come to campuses in the morning to focus on academics. In the afternoon, they'll go to community organizations for social and emotional enrichment. "Students can go do sports or arts or music," he added in part.
Classrooms are already being retrofitted for safe learning. The district plans to hire additional staff for the summer, which is anticipated to come with a price tag of up to $25 million.
The district couldn't tell us how many of its 12,000 staff members have gotten their first doses of the vaccine but said that all of them have been offered appointments.
