A nice collaboration between the Environmental Learning Centers of Connecticut (that's the Barnes Nature Center and Indian Rock Nature Preserve, among other holdings) and the city school district is providing what looks like will be a great program for South Side School children. For $10 to $20 a week, depending on income, parents of South Side children in grades first through fifth can enroll their kids in the program. For that, the kids get three extra hours of education and recreation under the supervision of some school teachers, retired teachers and the fine educational staff at Indian Rock.
I think kids should be able to go home after school and decompress, but a lot of children don't have that chance. This program offers them a way to be in a cool outdoor environment (Indian Rock) doing some educational activities two days a week and at the school for that time two other days. That sure beats all-indoor daycare programs -- education and fresh air, too.
Mostly, it's paid by a state grant, but parents do pay a small share.
Part of the reason they got the grant was the large number of children at the school who qualify for free and reduced lunches. It seems like a good investment to me.
I wrote about this program, which starts tomorrow, for Tuesday's Bristol Press. See details in the paper or online at http://www.bristolpress.com/.
By the way, if you didn't recognize it, that's Indian Rock in the picture, courtesy of the Environmental Learning Center's website: www.elcct.org.
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