A Place For Girls To Go
Elementary school children enrolled in most summer school programs across Rockland spend their time dissecting math problems and analyzing sentence structure instead of playing Red Rover or canoeing. In Ramapo, girls summer camp activities are part of the school curriculum.
For several years now, Ramapo Central and East Ramapo schools have teamed with the town of Ramapo Department of Parks and Recreation to offer young children a combination summer camp and summer school.
At both districts, children attend a 90-minute summer camp with all the trimmings - from arts and crafts to funny songs and races. They also attend 90 minutes of remedial classroom work in reading, writing and math. At Ramapo Central, they end the day with an hour of camp wide games and contests.
Ramapo Central charges $3 per child for the five-week session; the program in East Ramapo is free and includes breakfast and lunch. A comparable half-day town camp program without the academic component costs $65 for the five-week session.
Ramapo Central calls its Project Smart "summer school without tears, "and it has become so popular that they have to turn people away. East Ramapo's Summer Reading Program this year attracted about 800 children.
Getting into the program isn't simply a matter of desire. Both programs are exclusive. The 1,000 students enrolled in the two districts' mini-academic camps can only get in if they are recommended by their teachers for summer help.
"They're getting the best of both "academic and camp programs, said Marion Dale, summer camp coordinator for the town of Ramapo. The children said that going to summer school was fine - because they also get to go to camp. "It's a lot cooler in the summer, "said Kenneth Cuadra, 10, a student at the Connor School in Ramapo Central. '' I get to see most of my friends. ''
Ramapo Central schools started Project Smart in 1996 to prepare children with academic weaknesses for more challenging courses demanded by the state Education Department, said Phil Tisi, who helped get the project off the ground. The first year, the academics-only summer school attracted 37 students.
Tisi said the project needed to have more children to be successful. He looked to East Ramapo, which had a combined camp and school program just completing its first year, and decided to duplicate the program.
Tisi and Neil Marrin, Ramapo's deputy director of parks and recreation, started the combined program at Suffern High School in 1997. That year, 122 children enrolled. This year there are 200 students. East Ramapo has its program at Kakiat Junior High and Elmwood and Hempstead elementary schools this year.
"It's a very relaxed atmosphere, "said Debra Ennis, Hempstead summer school coordinator. "It really does help the kids learn better. "Alyssa Camargo, 10, a student at Sloatsburg school, said she "was scared that I wouldn't know anyone and that people would make fun of me. But it turned out pretty good. ''
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