After-school advocates say working together is key

By Sarah Campbell

scampbell@salisburypost.com

Imagine a program that would reduce the high school dropout, teenage pregnancy and juvenile delinquency rates.

It shouldn’t be hard to imagine because the North Carolina Center for Afterschool Programs says it already exists: It’s after-school care.

The center, founded in 2002, says high-quality after school programs can have a positive impact on communities, but lack of funding means such programs are dwindling

“Our children are at the most risk that they have ever been in the history of the state and nation,” Salisbury Mayor Susan Kluttz said. “At the same time we are facing the economic crisis and programs have been cut.”

The advocacy group ranked Rowan County 66 out of 100 counties in a “Roadmap to Need,” which uses 10 indicators to determine where young people are most at risk.

“When you think about children who are not supervised in the afternoon or during the summer, they are getting their views from television and learning from their peers,” Kluttz said. “We are seeing our children becoming dropouts, turning to crimes and, most recently, to gangs.”

Rowan County fell in the bottom half of the rankings in several areas: a 62 percent graduation rate in 2008-09 ranked 73rd; it was 69th for short-term suspensions, 244 in 2008-09; and 69th for child abuse/neglect cases, 36 cases per 1,000.

The county scored in the top half in several others areas, ranking 38th in the number of single-parent households, 9 percent this year; and 41st in median household income, $43,000.

Edgecombe County was ranked last, demonstrating the most need for after-school programs to help improve its 58 percent graduation rate, ranked 96th in the state, and reduce the number of short-term suspensions that stands at 87th in the state with 330.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Camden County ranks No. 1 overall, with the lowest juvenile delinquency rates in the state at 7 and the No. 7 graduation rate at 81 percent.

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The Center for Afterschool Programs is hosting five regional after-school summits, the most recent one in Salisbury on Friday, to discuss ways to foster collaboration among leaders in education, juvenile justice and health and human services to provide programs for disadvantaged youth.

“How can all of us working on behalf of young people and their families work together more effectively instead of working separately,” said Geoff Coltrane, director of program and policy for the James. B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy.

During Friday’s summit, more than 120 representatives from 18 counties discussed ways to break down barriers and provide access to all those children in need of after-school care.

Ellen Boyd, director of community relations for Kannapolis City Schools, said after-school providers need to look past their particular programs and work together.

“Put simply, put the children first and not the program,” she said.

Coltrane said if individual providers can find ways to pair their services, more funding opportunities will be available. He said it’s also important for providers to get the word out about their programs.

“It’s much harder to cut funding for programs that seem to be working,” he said.

Several after-school providers said they want to find ways to eliminate hurdles such as cost and transportation so that every child has a safe place to go and learn after school.

“One of the top priorities needs to be improving the level of access to all children,” Coltrane said.

Jo Ann Norris, executive director of the Public Forum of North Carolina, said the first step to solving access problems is educating the community and policymakers on the positive effects associated with after-school programming.

“Each one of you should know your legislators on a first-name basis,” she said. “You should be calling them at home and letting them know about these issues.”

Norris said if communities don’t voice their concerned, problems oftentimes go unnoticed and unchanged. She said policymakers can get the mindset, “I’m not hearing about this from my constituents. Therefore, it’s not my issue.”

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Rowan County already offers a variety of after-school programs that are working to keep children on the right path.

The Rowan County YMCA provides elementary and middle school students with after-school care at 17 different sites.

Executive Director Jaime Morgan said the program is based on five Christian principals including honesty, caring, respect, responsibility and faith.

“That’s something we don’t shy away from,” he said. “We really try to teach those core values to our kids.”

Students who attend the program receive help on their homework and advice on how to make healthy choices.

“We also make sure that we are putting good, positive role models in front of them.”

The Salvation Army offers children a similar Christian-based after-school program.

Jennifer Chambers, after-school and summer program director, said she works with students on their homework and makes sure students follow a daily routine.

Chambers said the program also provides personalized attention and help that some children may not always receive at home.

“A lot of parents that we have are single parents and it’s really difficult for them to be fully involved in their school work.”

Chambers said the program doesn’t just end when students leave to go home. She monitors their grades and behavior and comes up with ways to make improvements if needed.

Communities in Schools of Rowan County began a graduation program last year at North Rowan Middle School.

About 75 students, who were targeted based on end-of-grade test scores, behavior and attendance, received one hour of after-school tutoring in the subjects of math, reading and science three days a week.

“Of the students considered at risk, 99 precent of them showed improvement scores on the EOGs taken in the spring,” said Traci Fleming, Communities in Schools graduation coach for North Rowan High School.

Fleming said the success at North Rowan Middle has provided a foundation to start similar programs at other schools.

“As the program continues to grow, new opportunities are being offered to the students at North Rowan High School,” she said. “For example, tutoring has now evolved to homework assistance in the afternoons with a certified teacher providing students help in core subjects.”

The program is available to the entire school.

Fleming also works to helps students with life skills.

“Although my primary focus is on my students meeting graduation requirements, I strive to help them find the area in which they can contribute to society,” she said.

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After-school program advocates also feel mentoring is an essential part of providing quality programs.

Norris said getting parents, teachers and community members involved in children’s lives is essential.

“It is all about relationships,” she said.

Bradford Sneeden, a member of Gov. Bev Perdue’s education cabinet, said mentoring is the first step to keeping children on the right track.

“We know how important mentoring is because there is an absence of that right now,” he said. “Everybody seeks relevance; they want to belong to something.

“If you don’t give them something positive, they’re going to find something negative.

Contact Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.

About the Roadmap

to Need

Rowan County’s overall ranking is 66 out of 100 counties on The North Carolina Center for After-school Programs’ Roadmap to Need, while Cabarrus County ranks sixth overall. The center identified 10 indicators to demonstrate where the state should make its largest investments in preventative care such as afterschool programs. The data collected shows where students are most at risk of not succeeding in school and as adults.

About the indicators

• Cohort graduation rate — This indicator reports the four-year cohort graduation rate for a Local Education Agency (LEA).

• Short term suspension rate — This indicator reports data for students who were suspended for 10 days or less from the 115 LEAs and charter schools.

• Adults with high school diploma — This indicator reports the percentage of the population 25 years of age and older who have completed at least a high school diploma or GED.

• Median household income — This indicator reports the exact middle of the household income distribution in a particular county.

• Single parent households — Single parent households is the percent of all households run by a single parent (male or female householder with no spouse present) with one or more of their own children (under age 18) living at home.

• Children without health insurance — This indicator reports the percentage of children (under age 18) in North Carolina who are not covered by health insurance at any point during the year.

• Teen pregnancy rate — The N.C. Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative uses a five-year average of teen pregnancy rates because rates and ranks can fluctuate significantly from year to year.

• Juvenile Delinquency Rate — The juvenile delinquency rate is defined as the number of delinquent complaints received by court services offices.

• Child Abuse/Neglect Reported Cases — The child abuse/neglect reported cases depicts the number of children (under age 18) with a report of abuse and neglect for each year.

• Children in DSS Custody — The annual number of children in custody looks at the caseload count in foster care under Division of Social Services custody during a year.