MOSCOW, Pa. — The lights will stay on inside many of the classrooms in the North Pocono School District this summer.
The district is seeing a big spike in the number of students enrolling in its summer school program to make up for what they've lost during more than a year of mostly virtual learning.
"It's tough to quantify, but I'd say, with the fact that we only really had a true fourth quarter of live instruction, that you're probably looking at at least that much in lost instruction, and we'll use the time in our summer enrichment program to close that gap," said North Pocono Assistant Superintendent Daniel Powell.
This is the first time in a couple of years that the district has even needed a summer school program. But in years past, there have been about 50 or so kids enrolled. This year, it's closer to 150.
With three times the number of students enrolled in the summer program this year, the school district needs a lot more staff.
"We had a lot of teachers volunteer. Obviously, we have contractual language where they'll get paid for their time and some Act 48 credits for planning and instruction. But we didn't have to go begging. We had enough to fulfill the needs of the program."
Although the words "summer school" would usually solicit groans and grumbles from kids, Powell says this year, both the students and the teachers are more than happy to be back in a classroom.