Children at at Public School 636 in Brooklyn school are dancing, cooking, fencing or building robots until 6 p.m. These activities are all part of a federally funded at the school where one in five kids is homeless, which parents says has greatly enriched their children's lives.
The following are excerpts taken from a NY Daily News article:
The year-old after-school program is funded mainly through a federal grant, enabling PS 636 to maintain the extra programming other schools have been forced to trim because of budget cuts.
Hallways once filled with fistfights are now calm, and test scores are rising.
"When we first started, the kids were extremely aggressive,," said Tameeka Ford-Norville, director of the after-school program at University Settlement, a social service organization that runs PS 636's after-school program.
"Enrichment allows for team-building and respect, and that helps them work in the classroom together."
The school holds biweekly town hall meetings and monthly social gatherings attended by about 60 families. Parents and teachers play volleyball at those gatherings, or watch their children play basketball or perform in the cheerleading squad.
The shift toward a "community school" has changed parents' relationships to the school.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/10/12/2009-10-12_1_in_5_kids_is_homeless_at_ps_636_but_afterschool_program_makes_them_feel_at_hom.html#ixzz0Tvh9rRQU
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