Speaker discusses impact on district programs

CHESAPEAKE — Members of the Chesapeake Board of Education heard on Monday about the importance of advocating for after school grants.

Dr. Denise Shockley, superintendent of Gallia-Vinton Educational Service Center, was invited to address the meeting on the subject of 21st Century Community Learning Center grants, which provide funding for the district for math and reading tutoring, homework help, intervention, cultural activities such as art and theater programs.

Shockley said more than 500 Chesapeake students take part in the program, which also provides an after school snack for all attendees.

The presentation was spurred by a statement, issued on Jan. 17 by Jeremy Marks, the Ohio Department of Education federal funding liaison, that there would be no new after school programming grants for Ohio schools for the 2017-2018 school year.

“That struck me as wrong,” Shockley said. “They don’t understand what that does to southeast Ohio. These programs provide enrichment, a place to study and a chance to be with friends.”

She said they have been proven to increase academic performance.

Shockley wrote to the heads of ODE, asking them to reconsider.

“You’ve hurt a lot of kids in our area,” she said she told them.

Shockley said she also contacted Rep. Ryan Smith and Sen. Bob Petersen, who she said “went above and beyond the call of duty” in supporting her effort.

Shockley said her letter to Marks ended up being circulated throughout ODE.

“I make no apologies,” she said. “I was writing from the heart.”

Due to a public outcry across the state, Shockley said Marks reversed course, and plans to end the grants were scrapped.

“It began in rural areas and spread across the state,” Shockley said of the effort to save the grants.

However, Shockley said Lawrence County faces another obstacle, in that the bulk of grants go to northern, urban areas, despite the high poverty in southern Ohio.

She said in the last year, no schools south of Interstate 70, which bisects the state, received grants. Chesapeake schools last received grants two years ago, the earliest of which is set to expire in 2018.

“We need to advocate more funds appropriated for high poverty areas,” she said. “Many at-risk students don’t have the same opportunities as urban areas.”

Another possible risk is President Donald Trump’s budget blueprint, which she said calls for the elimination of 21st Century Community Learning Center grants altogether. However, she said, being early in the budget process, she hopes the grants will be retained.

Shockley said the program is important for rural areas.

“It allows a place where children can learn and know they are in a safe place,” she said.

She urged those present to contact the Ohio Department of Education, legislators and members of Congress to voice their support for the grants.

“I’m not going to be a silent person while this is going on in southern Ohio,” she said. The taxpayers deserve this and the children deserve this.”