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DoD again offers summer program for kids

A free, four-week, half-day summer program will be offered to many of the students in Defense Department schools, according to officials at the Department of Defense Education Activity.

The program will be offered to many of the “space-required” students in grades K-8, which include “command-sponsored” military children, those for whom the active-duty member has official approval to bring overseas at government expense. The hours will be 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Monday through Friday for those four weeks.

Dates of the programs will be determined based on local school schedules. The summer programs will be offered at selected sites, which will be decided based on the level of interest from families and confirmed enrollment. But area school officials will try to arrange locations so that most kids will have access to a program in their community, said Elaine Kanellis, a spokeswoman for DoDEA.

The curriculum will feature academic enrichment activities emphasizing math and the language arts. Transportation and lunch are not provided.

The stateside Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools (DDESS) will participate in the summer programs, Kanellis said, as well as those in the overseas Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DoDDS).

DoDEA recently received additional funds from defense officials which enable them to run the program this year.

This marks the fourth year the school system has offered a summer program, with curriculum materials again provided by Voyager Expanded Learning. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade will experience the primary and intermediate levels of “Mysteries,” and students in grades six through eight will participate in “Media Magic.”

The classes are not designed for credit, nor are they specifically designed to improve below-average skills, officials said, but they will reinforce student learning through “high-interest, hands-on activities focusing on reading, math skills and science content.”

For more information, and to register their kids, parents should contact their local school office. Parents should note that locations will be determined based on the level of interest shown and regional priorities.