Keeping Kids ‘On Track’ During School Breaks

Regarding “Calendar Can Leave Students Out in Cold” (March 17), about students who are off-track in year-round schools: Walter Reed Middle School, in North Hollywood, is scheduled to go year-round starting this summer. To assist our parents in finding age-appropriate activities so that our kids do not spend most of their off-track time sitting around watching TV, we have set up a committee of parents and school representatives to try to scour the city for programs. Most of our students are too young for part-time employment, so we are looking to place them as tutors and aides in local elementary schools and in volunteer-service activities in the local community. We would also like to create new programs, but funding and space are difficult to find.

The park programs, while well-intentioned, only meet from 11:30 to 2:30, when longer hours are sorely needed for most working parents. Beyond the Bell and LA’s BEST, along with other after-school programs, need support to expand their activities to full-day programs for off-track children.

I urge the LAUSD to join with the mayor’s office and private corporations to provide badly needed funding to these programs. Most of these children come from low-income families, as well as families where both parents work full-time. We need to think creatively about potential off-campus locations for programs that could provide kids with stimulating activities. If we succeed in addressing this problem now, in the end the whole community will benefit.

Robin Weisz

Studio City