Summer school programs spike by hundreds

By Bill Wyatt

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    MARTINSVILLE, Virginia (Martinsville Bulletin) — School is not out for summer in Martinsville, Henry and Patrick counties.

In fact, after a year of virtual classes because of the pandemic, collectively the three school districts may have one of the most well-attended summer programs on record.

“We are offering summer school for elementary, middle and high school Monday through Thursday in June and in July,” Henry County Schools Director of Communication Monica Hatchett said. “We have approximately 900 students registered.”

An explore camp for students in the fourth through seventh grades will be made available as well as an extended school year program for some of the elementary-aged students.

The month of June has been declared a “summer learning month” for all school in the Martinsville school district.

“We are offering summer enrichment camp at Clearview Early Learning Center for three and four-year-olds,” Martinsville Schools Communications and Community Outreach Coordinator Parker Gunn said. “We are offering STEM and Robotics camps, AVID summer bridge programs in math and science at Martinsville Middle School as well as summer enrichment camps based on several areas of interest and summer school at Martinsville High School.”

The science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) camp is an in-person, 2-week program that began this week and runs from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursday for kindergarten through fifth grade at Patrick Henry Elementary and Albert Harris Elementary schools.

The robotics camp for beginners in the third through fifth grades is being held this week and an intermediate camp for third through fifth grades as well as a beginners camp for sixth through eighth grades will be held June 14 through June 17. A primary camp for kindergarten through second grade and an intermediate camp for sixth through eighth grades will be June 21-24.

All robotics camps will be held in-person from 1 p.m. to 4 pm.

“We have enrolled approximately 900 students in summer enrichment and learning programs,” Gunn said.

In Patrick County, a remedial summer school program is being made available for kindergarten through eighth grades.

“Our summer school started June 7 and will go through July 1 and students will attend Monday through Thursday each week,” Patrick County Schools Superintendent Dean Gilbert said. “We have approximately 10 students per grade at each school.”

Transportation is being provided in all school districts as well as summer meals available for pickup for all students.

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