Inform, Entertain, Inspire
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

State Grant Will Help Goshen Community Schools Offset Pandemic Learning Loss

Screenshot captured via YouTube

Goshen Community Schools is investing  in after-school care and tutoring for students at risk of learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic after receiving a $756,000 state grant.

The school district partnered with KidsCare and the Boys and Girls Club of Goshen to apply for the state’s Student Learning Recovery Grant, which aims to fund local programming that supports students who may have fallen behind during the pandemic. 

 

The state first announced the grant awardees back in June. At a school board meeting Monday night, assistant superintendent Alan Metcalfe said the money will allow KidsCare to add after-school sites on the south and west side of the school district.

 

“It’s hard for a parent to wait an hour after school sometimes to come and get their kids,” he said. “We wanted to be able to provide childcare for them, which offered us an opportunity because KidsCare and the Boys and Girls Club are two places where our kids go.”

 

Metcalfe said the grant will also pay for tutors at all after-school sites, and will cover childcare costs for up to 180 students.

 

Kevin Deary, president and CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Elkhart County, said partnerships between community organizations and local school districts will be key in helping students recover the learning they lost over the last year.

 

“We are in this together and we are in it to win it,” Deary said at the school board meeting. “It’s not going to be easy, but we are dedicated.”

 

The grant, which runs for two years, comes from the Student Learning Recovery Grant Program and Fund created by Indiana House Act 1008 in April 2021.

 

Other local grant recipients includethe Boys and Girls Club of St. Joseph County with $7.7 million, Central Indiana Educational Service Center with $2.6 million, BloomBoard, Inc. with $1.5 million, Complete Tutoring & Mentoring with $541,345 and La Casa de Amistad with $123,497.

Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo.

If you appreciate this kind of journalism on your local NPR station, please support it by donatinghere. 

Gemma DiCarlo came to Indiana by way of Athens, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Georgia in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and certificates in New Media and Sustainability. She has radio experience from her time as associate producer of Athens News Matters, the flagship public affairs program at WUGA-FM.