Moorpark Schools Win Grant for After-School Activities

The Moorpark Unified School District has won a federal grant of more than $1 million to set up after-school programs at three sites.

For three years, the district will receive about $390,000 annually from the U.S. Department of Education for activities, such as tutoring and martial arts, that would be too expensive or far away for some students.

“There’s one movie theater that closed down, no bowling alley,” said Alison Drain, a district official who wrote Moorpark’s grant proposal. “There aren’t a lot of extracurricular activities here.”

Moorpark is among 38 rural and inner-city school systems to win the grant in California, where schools were awarded nearly $25 million for next year.

The Moorpark programs will offer about 500 students homework help and activities, such as sports, arts and cooking.

District schools already offer some after-school activities, but nothing as structured or specialized as the new programs, said Assistant Supt. Tina Cantrell.

An innovative program at Flory Elementary, a fourth- and fifth-grade school in downtown Moorpark, will offer services for the whole family. While Flory students attend enrichment programs, their parents can attend English as a Second Language courses and younger siblings can participate in preschool activities.

“It’s our last-ditch effort where we make sure they have their reading and math skills before going on to middle school,” said Flory Principal Pam Hill. The grant will save the school from its usual scramble to keep enrichment programs operating, she said.

Flory, Mesa Verde Middle School and Community High School will begin the after-school program in September.

Schools in Oxnard and Port Hueneme two years ago received funds from the same program, known as the 21st Century Community Learning Center.

Children and teens who are unsupervised after school are more likely to use alcohol, drugs and tobacco, commit crimes and drop out of school, according to a 1998 government report.