NPR communicated with the United States Department of Education several times to comment which federal subsidies are proposed for cuts, and rational efforts behind reducing the federal role in schools. The officials did not respond there.
In a previous statement, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon wrote“President Trump’s budget puts students and parents above the bureaucracy … We must change course and reorient taxpayers to proven programs that generate results for US students.”
Dawn Ficktt, the director of Reach in MSAD 54, says that the loss of programs after school would be a blow to students in the Skowhegan area, where the program has led to impressive academic gains and other profits. “Having a place for our youth to commit, causing joy and learning, it is an excellent way to keep children out of our streets and out of problems,” she says.
Hedy Chang, who founded Works assistance, a national non -profit organization that seeks to combat chronic absenteeism in schools, says that research has long demonstrated that the programs after school can also improve the day of the duration of students’ assistance, among other benefits.
“The programs after school can connect children with the necessary resources such as food, nutrition,” she says. “And make sure they are connected to something that involves them, make them excite themselves with learning.”
In Maine, schools also face Other threats to federal financingAnd soon you will see School Mental Health Services Limited by federal cuts. The low -income and rural districts such as MSAD54, which depend more on federal funds, would be their special success.
“I can hardly imagine our school district without a robust program after school,” says Ficktt. “I could see that you realize the progress of our community if we did, we have safe and support places for our young people to be, and places that help support their academic success.”
Exposure to new flavors and experiences
The Kitchen Club in the MSAD 54 extracurricular program is one of the many enrichment options for students, but remains the most popular.
Brenda Madden, a retired chef who has directed the club for four years, leads a lesson on the presentation and decoration of the table. The idea behind the class is to present students from different cultures, culminating at the Annual Food Festival, students organize the school community in general.
“Magic happens in the kitchen,” says Madden. By introducing new flavors, kitchens and skills to their students, he says: “It is to increase the fear of creating magic.”
The seventh grade student Dylan Kirk, who is busy sprinkling cross -chocolate and dried albaricoques, says he never thought about combining these flavors until this lesson. “Miss Brenda told me to make it elegant, so I did my best,” he says, while he presents the dish to the class.
Other students share that Paprika, plibacin stuffed and mint shame-chocolate beaters are between the flavors and dishes that had never tried the Madden class.
“At the beginning of their culinary experiences, I would say ‘I want chicken nuggets and fries for dinner’,” says Fickett. “After a year of kitchen with Brenda, they can tell him that they would love to prepare the paninis with a variety of cheeses, meats or vegetables; or make brownies with rosemary or mint.”
In addition to the encounters with innovative food, Madden says that his class is an opportunity to learn about nutrition. “I tell thesis children, when you get edible with your friends, instead of buying a bag of fries, which is two or three dollars, looks at a fruit that I had never tried before.”
Madden says there is another additional attraction for students in the kitchen club: “Children are hungry. They know they will have something to eat here,” says Shes.
That hunger is combined with the satisfaction that They They created the meals they can enjoy. “We always tried our own product,” says Molly Fitzpatrick of sixth grade.
Meet academic objectives while having fun
Before scope students separate in their various clubs, they have their noses in books and working sheets: they are 30 minutes dedicated to finish the homework after school.
“In high school,” says Fickett, “report the teacher who see a 90% increase in the completion of the task with their children who attend our program.”
Part of what has made your program successful is collaborating with school teachers to create continuity in the extracurricular program, he explains.
At the level of primary school, Fickett and other staff members provide additional support to younger students with the aim of closing early academic gaps.
Last year, she says: “In our program after the School of Garden of Infants to Second Grade, 37 of our 38 [low-performing] The students showed an improvement in literacy. “Similar profits for students of higher elements.
Chang, or assistance works, says that this type of collaboration can make a big difference. “Students can get access to additional resources and support, to learn an academic concept or have a different and more practical approach to learning,” she says.
All clubs in the Fickett extracurricular program incorporate academic objectives. In fact, it is one of the requirements of the 21st federal CCLC.
In Madden’s Cooking Club, for example, students practice mathematics adding, subtracting and multiplying for recipes. They know scientific objectives, such as observing chemical reactions between ingredients. It is almost as if learning is placed in fun.
At the same time, programs after school also help develop students to work together, building essential non -academic skills.
“What Brenda does really well is to establish from the beginning how we work better as a group, how we communicate, how we solve problems,” says Ficktt. “And that really only reinforces those social and relational skills that our youth needs absolutely.”
Attending school is also a requirement to attend the extracurricular program. Molly Fitzpatrick, sixth grade, believes it is an intelligent system, “because I will be excited to go to school on Monday because I missed cooking.”
A free and essential service for parents too
The mother of seventh stand Dylan Kirk, Cynthia Kirk, collects it after she finishes her work day as Skowhegan Waste Management Supervisor. “We work full time. Sometimes I have worked multiple jobs, my husband too,” she says.
It has been a great benefit to Dylan to participate in the scope, something that has done since the program began in 2019.
“It is a real leg experience many different things that probably could not do it without the program after school,” says Cynthia.
She describes her son as a “practical child” who learns better concepts by practicing them in a tangible way instead of abstractly, in the classroom. Activities after school have allowed him to do exactly that.
“I simply like to build things,” says Dylan, whose favorite club after school is robotics, although Cooking Club is a close second.
“It will come home with recipes and say ‘Mom, can we do this? Can we try this? This was really good,” says Cynthia.
Now, Cynthia says she is worried: “When it comes to children, this should be the last in the list of things that can be cut. Many children need these programs. They need a place to go after school. The nursery is very limited to families after a certain age.”
Dawn Ficktt says he has already been working to obtain funds from local businesses and other donors to find ways to keep the extracurricular program.
The life of a child, he says, does not end simply when the dismissal bell rings in school. “In this district, we do not consider school and after school as separate … we are a vital part of a child’s school day.”
