McHenry Times

At its Jan. 24 meeting, Algonquin's District 300 School Board heard from Deputy Superintendent Martina Smith on what the district will be offering in their 2023 summer school program.

The district will continue a K-8 program that they have offered the past two summers, which will run from June 5-15, giving all students the opportunity to get eight instructional days in math or English if they choose. The district will provide transportation for students to the determined locations, which might not be at the student’s normal building. The district will also ensure families of students who might need additional help are made aware of the benefit of this opportunity.

There will be opportunities for field trips as well, with transportation and food provided.

"And so what we're looking at this year is if we add some more enrichment opportunity with this, as well as new materials for teachers and that field trip opportunity, transportation and food for all, because these are things that we may not have had previously," Smith said in the meeting. "If we can get our numbers up this year and then we look at how we can adjust and what will make it better based off of feedback from this year's programming to make any additional changes for the following summer."

The district will consolidate area schools into one more centralized building per area to decrease the amount of transportation and facilities they use. They will also be providing one meal (either breakfast or lunch) and a snack to each student who attends, although the specifics of that are still being determined.

The district will also be allowing for middle school credit recovery if a middle school student needs to retake a core class. There will be two sessions available for this: May 30-June 15 or June 20-July 7. The high school also has this same credit recovery option with the same two sessions, with specified school locations.

Additionally, students can take some enrichment courses such as driver’s education, history, sports, economics, government and more. They can also use this time to get ahead in requirements and credits. The district has many other opportunities over the summer, including choir, band, orchestra, theatre camps, STEM and CTE camps, athletic camps and training, and many different ages and levels for each of these.