After School Programs

The only three children who showed up for the first day of the after-school program yesterday are the children of the woman who runs it.For the revived program at Northwest Middle School, it was only the latest thing to go wrong. The first thing was a hiatus of nearly five months because of problems getting the check for the state grant.Yesterday, the first day of registration, the fliers that were to have alerted parents about the program still had not been delivered.School employees mailed the fliers last Tuesday -- a week late, because of the snow, said Anna Rio of Taneytown, the program director.

Op-ed contributor Brian Gaines is right that we've got a long way to go when it comes to making sure Maryland's next generation is sufficiently educated in science, technology, engineering and mathematics ("No. 1 isn't good enough," Jan. 23). But he overlooks one outstanding way to help do the job: After-school programs. Ample research demonstrates that high-quality after-school programs can have a significant impact on students' attitudes about STEM fields and careers, their knowledge and skills in those areas and even their likelihood of graduating and pursuing a STEM career.

KEEPING CHILDREN safe, happy and learning after school is vital for any community that values its young people and the hope they bring for a better future. Unfortunately for after-school programs in our area, the future is bleak. Virtually every after-school program in Baltimore is in jeopardy because of proposed budget cuts at the federal, state and local levels. What looms is a crisis of catastrophic proportions for working parents, families and the community. Here is some of the bad news: Maryland's proposed 2004 budget would reduce Purchase of Care preschool and after-school vouchers for tens of thousands of low- and moderate-income families by 19 percent, from $134 million to $109 million.

Standing before some 30 activists and Union Square neighbors Saturday in a neon orange T-shirt with the words "I am Baltimore," 16-year-old Antonio Ellis recited a gritty poem about how the city appears through his eyes. "Born and raised in the city, where youth are always misunderstood. / Being judged based on skin color or because they're from the 'hood," the Reginald F. Lewis High School sophomore said in a lyrical rhythm. "Living in the city, where there is little chance to succeed.

About 1,000 Baltimore parents, pupils and teachers gathered last night to celebrate the achievements of pupils in a grass-roots after-school program and to send a message to the candidates in the gubernatorial campaign. During the gathering at the Murphy Fine Arts Center at Morgan State University, pupils from nine elementary and middle schools demonstrated foreign languages and other skills they learned in the Child First Authority after-school program. Child First was founded in 1996 by Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, a community-based organization.

The Sykesville Middle School principal would like to make the school building a community resource center open year-round. A $114,000 state grant the school applied for would be a start, extending the school day a few hours every afternoon with after-class activities for children in grades six through eight. "Children this age need activity and so many of them are restricted after school to the inside of their homes until their parents get home," said Principal Donald Pyles. "This is idle time with TV as the biggest outlet.

When the day ends each afternoon at Columbia's Owen Brown Middle School, the real work begins for librarians half a block away at the East Columbia branch library.Dozens of 10- to 13-year-old students go to the spacious facility to do homework and research. Some bury their heads in books and work quietly, but many not-so-quiet students gossip and tease one another and play on computers.They are supervised only by busy, increasingly harried librarians."It's like rush hour over there," says Michael Goins, principal at Owen Brown Middle.

One of the city's most vocal activist groups is taking Mayor Martin O'Malley to task for backing away from a campaign promise to fund and expand the organization's after-school program for more than 1,000 children. Members of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) say they will appear at O'Malley's public events and demand that he honor his commitment for $2 million in direct, annual funding for their program, Child First Authority. "We will follow him to every public forum where he shows his face to let every citizen of Maryland know that this is a mayor who does not keep his commitments to the children of Baltimore," said Bishop Douglas I. Miles, co-chair of BUILD and pastor of Koinonia Baptist Church.

Hoping to make day care more than glorified baby-sitting, National Geographic and Sylvan Learning Systems have launched a national after-school program that they pioneered in Howard County.The program, called MINDSURF, takes ideas from National Geographic -- the magazine and the television programs -- to teach children geography, history and social studies, using activities children enjoy.Piloted last year at Mount View Middle School in Marriotsville and eight other schools in the Baltimore area, MINDSURF prompts youngsters to craft native American pottery and explore the mysteries outer space while learning culture and history lessons designed by the National Geographic Society.

In Ottawa, an after-school program at a public housing project is credited with reducing juvenile arrests by 75 percent over three years.In Austin, Texas, students who were most active in after-care programs at two public schools had higher grades and self-esteem than those who did not participate.The success of these programs, along with anecdotal information from parents and school officials, helped persuade leaders of BUILD, a church-based community group, to push for an after-school program for Baltimore students.

Religious leaders joined hundreds of children and parents in a march around Baltimore's Inner Harbor on Thursday afternoon to protest Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's proposed budget cuts to after-school programs. "Our children are our jewels, not the Inner Harbor," Bishop Douglas Miles, co-chair of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, said in front of the Baltimore Convention Center as children and parents cheered. Parents said they rely on after-school programs threatened by Rawlings-Blake's budget to provide opportunities for children to play and learn.

The dozens of children who spend their after-school hours at the Stanton Community Center in downtown Annapolis can find help with homework, or a game of basketball. They get a bag lunch and assistance from a friendly group of volunteers. But the most dominant presence in this historic city building is the man they call Mr. Lassie. Everybody refers to recreation leader George Belt as Lassie, a childhood nickname that has stuck for all his 60 years. (When he was born the third child in three years, his grandparents told his mother he should be called "Lastie," though she went on to have seven more children.

With a balloon, a straw, a clothespin, tape and string, a group of young scientists designed a rocket that could fly across a room on a trajectory between two chairs. During their aerodynamics experiment, the children discovered that as the balloon releases air, it will travel along the string from one point to another. Then, they tested the theory with multiple balloons and organized races in their lab at the Aberdeen Boys and Girls Club in Harford County. "I learned how to make a rocket out of a balloon today," said Jeremy Valerio, 12. "With just a little material, you can make something big. " During a 10-week, after-school program, a dozen children are pursuing informal science lessons, meeting with area scientists and engineers, and testing their own math and science skills.

Baltimore school officials introduced Wednesday a food and nutrition initiative that will provide meals to at-risk children in after-school programs across the district next year. During a news briefing and kitchen tour at Carver Vocational-Technical High School, officials presented the new Supper Program, in which students at five Baltimore high schools will have the opportunity to further their culinary degrees as they prepare and distribute about 2,000 meals a week to elementary and middle- school children.

A-OK (Assisting Our Kids) Mentoring-Tutoring Program needs adult volunteers to work in Howard County schools, grades K-8, and after-school programs. A-OK is working with the following schools: Oakland Mills Middle School, Bryant Woods, Longfellow, Phelps Luck, Running Brook, and Talbott Springs elementary schools. To volunteer and for more information, call Chaya Kaplan at 410-730-6030 or e-mail chayakaplan@verizon.net. div.talkforum #creditfooter { display: none; } div.talkforum .feedItemAuthor { display: none; }

Congress gave state governors wide discretion in allocating funds for education from the federal stimulus package passed this week. But in Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley's top priority must be to preserve the progress state schools have made in raising student achievement and test scores. That means forestalling the need for layoffs and program cuts and funding the kinds of renovation and refurbishment projects that will lead to continued improvement. Mr. O'Malley faces a crucial test in deciding how best to apply the approximately $1.8 billion in federal stimulus money earmarked for education here.

Maryland officials are scheduled to hand out $9.2 million in grants today to expand after-school activities as part of the state's effort to make the hours 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. less risky for teen-agers. The awards -- to be announced by Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend at a news conference aboard the Constellation in the Inner Harbor -- will double state funding for after-school activities, creating more than 300 programs and reaching more than 7,500 children and teen-agers, according to state officials.

Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso joined more than 400 parents, students and teachers last night as they asked city and state leaders to spare education from expected budget cuts. The rally at Dr. Bernard Harris Sr. Elementary School was organized by the Baltimore Child First Authority, a division of the advocacy group Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development. Child First has been hurt by city cuts this year. It lost $500,000 for its after-school programs, prompting the discontinuation of programs at Arundel Elementary/Middle and Gwynns Falls Elementary.

The good news is that the public and Baltimore City leaders increasingly realize the importance of after-school programs to keep kids safe, active, engaged in school, and exposed to a variety of opportunities. The bad news is that the demand for those opportunities far exceeds the supply. The need for after-school programs is so great that the Family League of Baltimore City, the organization responsible for coordinating the selection of after-school programs to be funded, received 142 applications this year.