By Patric Hedlund

A long, suspenseful wait was broken Thursday, July 14 when an official letter of confirmation arrived at El Tejon Unified School District. Funding for a joint Boys & Girls Club-ETUSD after-school program was finally granted after years of efforts to qualify. The news was greeted with obvious joy throughout the community.

ETUSD Superintendent Katie Kleier said in an email that the letter confirms $112,500 has been granted with “no surprises, just lots of excitement!”

A long, suspenseful wait was broken Thursday, July 14 when an official letter of confirmation arrived at El Tejon Unified School District. Funding for a joint Boys & Girls Club-ETUSD after-school program was finally granted after years of efforts to qualify. The news was greeted with obvious joy throughout the community.

ETUSD Superintendent Katie Kleier said in an email that the letter confirms $112,500 has been granted with “no surprises, just lots of excitement!”

Zane Smith, director of the Boys & Girls Club of Kern County said the Proposition 49 ‘After School Education and Safety’ (ASES) funds will provide Mountain Community children with three hours a day of structured after-school programs of academic, enrichment and physical activity offerings for students on Frazier Park School grounds.

ASES distributes $550 million statewide, but this is the first time the local Boys & Girls Club has received this funding.

Heart of the Mountain Benefit

On Saturday, the Heart of the Mountain art auction and wine tasting was held at Tejon Ranch. The tally is not complete yet, Smith said in an interview, but he estimates that about $20,000 was raised to help cover expenses for the Boys & Girls Club’s vacation programs and scholarships for families that qualify.

ASES Offers Benefits

In a press release about the ASES funding, Superintendent Kleier said, “We know from statistics and experience that children engaged in the visual and performing arts do better in math and science. We hope that by offering engaging after-school programs directly on the school campus, we will attract families that may be in alternative education situations and improve daily attendance and academic performance….”

The Boys & Girls Club of Frazier Mountain, founded four years ago by Linda MacKay and a committee of concerned residents, has been providing afterschool programs and summer day camps in off-campus locations as part of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County.

Local residents operate the club. They rely on community support to keep their doors open. Board President David Crowder said the ASES grant “…is a wonderful opportunity to take our program directly to our children at their school. By working on the school campus and directly with [ETUSD] staff and teachers, we expect we will have far more meaningful impact on our children’s educational and social development.” Anne Weber and Smith wrote the grant.

According to California Department of Education sources, the ASES program provides an opportunity “to merge school reform strategies with community resources, involving collaboration among parents, youth, individuals from community-based organizations and the private sector.”

Many Mountain Community groups with impressive track records, including the Mountain Shakespeare Festival and the Arts for Earth Foundation, have expressed commitment this year to enter into enrichment partnerships to benefit local schools.

This is part of the July 22, 2011 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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