By Dave Hill<br><a href="mailto:hilld@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Dave</a>
Tonawanda students who slouch off this school year will have to pay a steep price for their poor academic performance.
Based on last summer’s success, the Tonawanda School Board decided Tuesday to again hold summer school at Grand Island High School.
Tonawanda students who attend will have to pay $150 tuition per course, while the district will provide transportation.
“It was very successful,” School Board President Joyce Hogenkamp said of the summer school 2008 program.
The board decided last fall to offer summer school at Grand Island because Tonawanda High School wasn’t going to be available due to the capital project taking place, which included installing a new roof and renovating some classrooms.
District officials quickly spread the word to students. The prospect of paying $150 a course at Grand Island led to improved performance and attendance during the 2007-2008 school year, and fewer students enrolled in summer school, according to Mary Beth Scullion, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
“If something’s successful, I think we should revisit it and go back and make sure it’s the same again,” Hogenkamp said. “We’ve had good results.”
In 2006-07, approximately 200 students were eligible to take the core courses — math, science, English and social studies — when summer school was offered at Tonawanda.
Of those, 140 signed up, and the high school’s attendance rate from April to May was 91.82 percent, Scullion said.
Last year, when the district announced summer school was being held at Grand Island, 96 students were eligible and 14 attended. The high school’s attendance rate rose slightly at the end of the school year, to 93 percent.
Based on that data, Scullion recommended the district continue holding summer school at Grand Island. “I think we should stay with that recommendation,” Superintendent Whitney Vantine said.
Not everyone agreed. Board member Lynn Casal voted against the proposal. “Parents are paying taxes for (the high school) building, and not everybody who fails a course isn’t working hard,” Casal said.
Contact reporter David J. Hill at 693-1000, ext. 115.
