Schools
School District Tries to Keep the Fun in Summer
The Haddonfield School District added programs to this year's summer enrichment offerings in an effort to make up for about $58,000 in cuts that ended free summer recreation in the borough this year.
The Haddonfield school district has rescued a children's summer activities program left on the chopping block after a $58,000 borough budget cut. But not without a cost.
The district will roll out a number of engaging programs for idle youths this summer, but there will now be a fee.
Twenty-seven offerings are detailed for elementary, middle and high school students. Eight of the 27 are new courses. Offerings include summer fitness and acting, dancing and singing for the musical theater.
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Courses run Monday-Thursday through July and range from $75 to $300, depending on length of session and content. The program is intended to run revenue neutral, and will pay for itself through enrollment fees. If courses do not fill, they may be cancelled.
“Old favorites returning this summer include SAT prep, writing your college essay, algebra bridge course, Spanish immersion camp, study skills, motion picture bucket list, pottery, history architecture in Haddonfield, Lego robotics, welcome to Hogwarts, and math mania,” school Superintendent Richard Perry said. “These courses were developed through input from both the community and our teaching staff. We investigated the costs to run these programs based on a minimum number of students required for each course to be held.”
Find out what's happening in Haddonfield-Haddon Townshipwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Borough Clerk, Deanna Bennett, confirmed the estimated $58,000 cut from the municipal budget that supported wages, equipment and supplies for summer recreation programs.
Commissioner and borough Director of Revenue and Finance Jeff Kasko said recently the cuts came from public works, properties and recreation affects all summer recreation programs, including tot-lot, playground, instructional programs and sports across the board.
The Haddonfield Board of Education started planning in March for the possibility of the borough cuts while school district administrators and staff were hammering out their own 2010-11 budget numbers for the state department of education.
According to the Summer Academy brochure on the school district website, enrollment for the Summer Academy students, grades 2 through 12, opened April 5. Programming for children entering kindergarten in the fall, up to second graders is available for registration began on April 11.
