MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – It’s the first day of summer school in South Florida and there are new programs for students that are looking to advance in education.
Of more than 330 school sites, 112 locations are being opened for what’s being called “Summer 305″ in Miami-Dade County.
Joella C. Good Elementary School, in Hialeah, is one of those schools hoping to make a difference.
“It helps them make the transition to the next grade level. It will be a lot smoother once the year starts,” said Mileydis Torrens, Principal of Joella C. Good Elementary.
Torrens told Local 10 News that so far, there are about 630 students enrolled at her campus.
Traditionally, summer school was for kids who needed help.
“Reading is a challenge, writing is a challenge,” said Alejandra Velazquez, who teaches third grade.
With many kids trying to catch up because of what’s often called the “COVID slide,” teachers say the class is some of the students last chance to get to fourth grade.
“Here hopefully since it’s such an intensive reading program, we would be able to close the gap,” said Velazquez.
After a migration surge in South Florida, the district is also trying to get first-time English learners back into the classroom.
“We have over 20,000 students,” said Bilingual Dept. District Supervisor Cecilia Monteagudo.
That’s the number of students district officials say came from other countries like Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia.
Third grade teacher Isabel Suarez told Local 10 News that the added time in the classroom will help these newly arrived kids for the next school.
“They’re going to get little by little more comfortable,” she said.
There are also students who just want to advance like Liz Ramos, who is about to go into fifth grade and is taking a science, technology and math course this summer.
“I feel for me it’s a bit better and like I’m also learning something, so I won’t be home like doing nothing,” she said.
The program will for K-8 students will run from Tuesday to Sunday and Grades 9-12 will run from June 12- to July 18 offering a diverse range of program offerings at MDCPS sites and over 300 camps sponsored by the Children’s Trust, according to a news release.
Click here for more information on Summer 305 and any of the offered summer programs for students.