Summer school is in full swing as some Shawano County students forgo lengthy summer vacations in favor of continuing to learn. Bonduel School District opted to run its own summer school program this year rather than bus students to Shawano, as had been done in previous years. “It’s more for convenience for families,” said Peggy Jones, Bonduel Elementary School principal. “The students, the last few years, were given the choice to either go to the Bonduel program — we had a smaller version — or to go to Shawano.” Jones said benefits of expanding to a more complete summer school program include lower transportation costs, less time on buses for students and summer jobs for local teachers and support staff. School officials estimate about 475 students are participating in the Bonduel program. That is almost 56 percent of the student population during the 2012-13 school year. District Administrator Peter Behnke noted that it says a lot that so many students, or at least parents of students, want education to continue in June and July. “We laugh because whenever we talk about having year-round schools. People say, ‘You can’t do that,’ but then you have more than half of the students here for four or five weeks in the summer,” Behnke said. In Shawano, participation is also quite high. An estimated 1,300 students, almost 52 percent of the school district’s enrollment for 2012-13, are taking classes, according to Jennifer Schmidt, summer school principal. “I think the thing that kids like about summer school is that most of it is enrichment classes,” she said. “We may offer things that are usually not available during the school year. It’s a little more laid back.” Reading, math and writing are still part of summer school, though, and Schmidt said many parents want to make sure their children are still engaged with the basics. However, there are also fun classes such as tennis, fishing, messing with clay and other specialized areas to keep summer school from seeming like an extension of the school year. “We have all kinds of things the kids really like,” Schmidt said. Jones agreed that fun classes need to be intermingled with the core education classes to encourage students. “We try to get the balance so students can work on their reading and math skills and then, at the same time, do something fun,” Jones said. Classes at Shawano High are proceeding without difficulty, despite construction work on an expanded technical education and agriculture wing, Schmidt said. Only one class is held in the existing tech ed area, Schmidt said, with other classes well away from the construction. Both Shawano and Bonduel are providing free breakfasts and lunches for all students, regardless of whether they qualify for free or reduced meals, or are enrolled in summer school through grants. Both school districts will wrap up summer school programs on July 19. The Leader could not get information on Gresham’s summer school participation by press time.
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