New York City Launched Its ‘Summer Rising’ School Program

Photo by Max Fischer from Pexels

In New York City, New York, various public schools introduced the Summer Rising program on Tuesday. Due to the ongoing pandemic, any student who wants to attend is more than welcome.

Ditching the traditional summer school model, it will mix camp and school activities, offering field trips, emotional supports, programs, and academics for students. Plus, it will be a great way to promote life-long learning while also interacting with friends once more.

From the sounds of things, many families are eager to have summer programming options for their kids.

Parents and guardians still interested in signing up a child for Summer Rising can continue to do so this week by visiting schools.nyc.gov/summer.

Summer Rising (Kindergarten to Grade 8)

According to the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, Summer Rising is a free school-based summer enrichment program for children between Kindergarten all the way to Grade 8.

For elementary students, it will run for five days a week for seven weeks, from July 6 to August 20. For middle school students, it will run four days a week and last six weeks, from July 6 to August 13.

Summer Rising High School (Grades 9 to 12)

There is also a Summer Rising High School for Grades 9 to 12 which can also help high schoolers:

• Retake previously failed courses
• Complete courses still in progress
• Accelerate academic participation
• Participate in work and internship opportunities (through the Summer Youth Employment Program)

For those interested in the Summer Rising High School, the high schools themselves will reach out to students. You can find more information on the New York City Department of Education website.

This summer learning will occur for five weeks, with individual schools working out customized schedules, from July 6 to August 13.

Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) 

The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) is the largest employment program in the entire nation. It allows New York City youth between the ages of 14 to 24 to gain paid work experience each summer and helps them explore potential career opportunities.

Gaining workplace skills and hands-on learning is especially important for the younger generations.

The program will promote:

• Work-readiness in youth
• A proper summer job
• Financial literacy
• Project-based learning

The deadline to submit applications was back on April 30, 2021. However, it's good to be ready for the next year.

The Purpose of Summer Rising

In the Summer Rising Program, students will engage and learn with peers and adults in supervised spaces. The purpose of such a program will allow students to reconnect with one another until the school year officially restarts. It will also address unfinished learning as well.

When applying to this program, guardians filled out this form, located on the official New York City website. Then, guardians looked for appropriate programs here on the Discover DYCD website to submit their applications.

You can still take a look around these sites, even though we are already in July.

Accommodations

From the sounds of it, this program is highly accomodating and also includes:

• Students who are learning English, such as English language learners
• Students with exceptionalities/disabilities
• Students who have an Individual Educational Plan (IEP)

Teacher aides will be reportedly available at every site. The Learning Bridges program may help with providing free child care options during the blended learning period.

Since it is past June 25, the application for the 2020 to 2021 school year has closed, but you can still email them via learningbridges@schools.nyc.gov.

Transportation

Furthermore, transportation will be provided to eligible students only. These include:

• Students with IEPs or 504 Plans that recommend curb-to-school busing
• Students in the shelter system
• Students who had a yellow bus stop (during the regular school year) and are attending Summer Rising to be promoted to the next grade level
• Students

Busing will be available for the instructional session starting time and at the session ending time. Students will arrive at 8:00 AM. In the afternoon, they will be picked up at session end times but it will be no later than 3:00 PM.

There is no busing at 6:00 PM. However, MetroCards will be made available to those students who stay after 3:00 PM.

Photo by Laker from Pexels

Health and Safety

Concerning the health and safety of students, it seems that all rigorous health and safety protocols will be honored, like mask-wearing and social distancing. There will also be nursing support and a telehealth center too.

Furthermore, guardians and parents will have to complete consent forms for the mandatory and periodic COVID-19 testing just to make sure things run smoothly.

Final Thoughts

Mayor Bill de Blasio has high hopes that the Summer Rising program will be the new standard for summer school:

"A lot of parents wanted this summer opportunity for their kids to reacclimate to school, to get ready, catch up, but also have a lot of fun this summer."

He also said:

Every parent should know this is there for you and your child. This is how we build a recovery for all of us. It's helping every child, every family come back strong."

It's great that New York City, New York has Summer Rising to potentially help out many students. The younger generations deserve lots of educational and social support, to make sure we have a better tomorrow. Hopefully, one can hope that the program will be fun and rewarding.

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