McCracken schools get $1.96 million 21st Century grant

By DAVID SNOW dsnow@paducahsun.com

View original at paducahsun.com

The McCracken County School District will continue its 21st Century programs, as it received a $1.96 million grant from the Kentucky Department of Education to fund those programs for the next five school years.

McCracken County High School, Reidland Intermediate School and Hendron-Lone Oak Elementary School will each receive $490,000 over the next five years to continue their programs.

Each of those schools is in its last year of the five-year funding span for the programs.

Heath Elementary School will restart its 21st Century programs in the 2020-21 school year after discontinuing it for the last two school years. It also will receive $490,000 over the next five years to do so.

Other district schools with 21st Century programs are Reidland Middle, in its ninth year; Heath Middle, in its fourth year; Lone Oak Middle, in its third year; and Reidland Elementary, in its second year.

“21st Century is a grant-funded before- and after-school program,” said Genevieve Postlethwait, the grant writer for the school district. “It comes from the federal level, and at the state level, they award these grants to schools throughout the state.”

Through the grants, schools provide tutoring, mentoring, artistic and cultural enrichment clubs and activities for students who otherwise don’t have access to similar programs or are struggling in school.

“Kids can come before school to get extra homework help or tutoring and then, immediately after school, they get what we call a ‘super snack’ and they do an hour of homework help or tutoring, usually with certified teachers,” Postlethwait said. “After that, they do clubs. It varies from week to week and school to school.”

The program has had a strong effect on its participants.

“Low-income kids who came to the program for at least 30 days last year out-performed the schools as a whole by a significant amount,” Postlethwait said. “Reidland Elementary also has a summer program, and they focus on reading. They want to prevent a ‘summer slide,’ usually a 30% reduction over the summer. These kids had a 12% gain in their reading proficiency.

“It’s not just another program. It’s something they really take pride in, and it helps a lot of families. We’re just looking to keep it going as long as we can.”