Published Friday, October 18, 2002
on after-school efforts
Herald Staff Writer
Patty Clark has seen a difference in her 12-year-old son, Tyler Bacon, in the three years he has been a COOL kid.
"It's helped with Tyler, doing his homework, with discipline, putting him in a setting where he does what he's supposed to do before he has fun," said Ms. Clark of Sharon.
Tyler also has become more confident in the Children's Opportunities for Outside Learning after-school program at Sharon schools and is getting excellent grades.
"It has made him an all-around better student," she said.
Organizers of an after-school rally hope success stories like that will help them keep their doors open by freeing up local volunteers and donations and government funding for after-school programs.
Lights On After-School, held Thursday at Sharon High School and one of about 5,000 rallies held nationwide this week, was organized by the COOL programs in the Sharon and Farrell school districts.
Organizers acknowledged the value of faith- and community-based programs that function outside of a school setting.
Even school-based programs need community assistance. Dawn Blaus, coordinator of Sharon's COOL program, noted the contributions of the Valley Arts Guild, the First Tee golf program at Buhl Farm park in Hermitage and others in COOL activities.
"It's truly a community program," she told an audience of about 75.
Partnerships such as those already existing in COOL will be important to securing state funding, said Dr. Thomas P. Carey, deputy secretary of elementary and secondary education for the state Department of Education.
In the past, the 21st Century Learning Center grants -- which have funded COOL for three years, and run out in May -- were available from the federal government. But under the federal No Child Left Behind program, the federal government is giving money to the states to hand out.
Carey, a former teacher, school administrator and school board member, encouraged organizations to apply for funding, which is available to nonschool-based programs.
After-school programs keep children safe and healthy, promote achievement and help working families, he said. Students' grades improve and children are better at math and reading.
Research is backing up some of those assertions, he said. Children in after-school programs are 49 percent less likely to take drugs and 30 percent less likely to become teen-aged parents.
Programs also give children something to do between 3 and 6 p.m., when they are "most in harm's way," and more likely to be involved with drugs and alcohol, he said.
Darlene Cary of Sharon said she appreciates COOL providing a safe environment for her daughter, Marissa, 9.
"She enjoys it," Ms. Cary added. "They help her with her homework."
Ms. Clark added that knowing her 9-year-old daughter, Katie Bacon, is involved in something productive, is a "big relief."
"I work until 4:30 in the afternoon," Ms. Clark said. "I know she's in a safe place and having a good time.