C-SAFE to offer after-school learning program

September 12, 2007|By DAN DEARTH

To learn more about the C-SAFE after-school program, e-mail Carolyn Brooks at

HAGERSTOWN - The organizers of an after-school program in Washington County are looking for third-, fourth- and fifth-graders to participate.

Carolyn Brooks, coordinator of the Collaborative Supervision and Focused Enforcement Program for Washington County, told the Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday that the program will provide supervised recreation for the children and help them complete homework assignments, among other things.

She said the program will be held from October to May for pupils at Bester, Eastern, Fountaindale and Winter Street Elementary schools.

The program requires pupils to stay after school for three hours a day, three days a week, Brooks said.

Children are recruited for the program by invitation or a referral from the school staff, she said. Up to 25 pupils can participate at each of the four locations.

Brooks said each school receives roughly $22,500 a year from city and county grants to finance the program.

That amount, in part, pays for staffing, art supplies and transportation to take the children home, she said.

Misti Winders, one of the program's staff members, told the council that children who participate are required to read for at least 20 minutes a day.

The program has helped some pupils raise their grades, she said. It also provides supervision for children whose parents are at work when school lets out.

Hagerstown resident Janet Bartels, a program volunteer, said she and her husband, Gordon, teach the children how to plant vegetable gardens.

"(It) helps promote education as a lifetime activity," she said.

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