new center for learning If a student is suspended from school, even for a day, a school district is bound by New York state law to provide alternate instruction for two hours a day for high school and middle school students and 60 minutes a day for elementary students. This is almost always done with tutors. Until recently, Spencerport school district tutors would go into the students' home. They would first have to contact the family, decide upon a time and then get all materials from various teachers. This took time and the process did not start until a tutor could be found who would take the student. The home is also not always an optimal learning environment because it lacks the resources and technology of the classroom. In an effort to address these problems, Terry Hedges, director of Student Information Services at Spencerport Central Schools, implemented an on-site tutoring center in the high school from 3 to 5 p.m. four days a week. The problem with that was that transportation could not be provided at that time; and attendance cannot be required without providing transportation. The result was poor attendance. Recently, Hedges opened a Tutoring Center in the Administration Building. The center is open from 7:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. and is directed by Kerry Graupman, a former elementary school teacher. Students come to the center on buses and stay for one of three two-hour shifts. The shifts run from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m.; from 9:45 to 11:45 a.m.; and from noon until 2 p.m. The center is a bright, cheerful room with a large window and is filled with tables, copies of nearly all the books the district uses and five computers. It has its own restroom and water fountain, so students never need to leave the center. Teachers can email the center or a tutor with work for their student, and necessary equipment or papers can be picked up by Graupman, who visits each school at least once a day. Another positive aspect of this system is the center's ability to immediately take the student. There is no time lapse from the student's suspension and the start of work with a tutor. In many cases the student comes right from his home school to the center the very same day. "This is something that I have been working on for over a year," Hedges said. His long-range goal is to have a family support center and his office right in the same area. He wants to hire a full-time counselor versed in family systems. At the present time there is a part-time counselor at the center as well as the tutors. Hedges has done all this using existing funds. He says that some of the money he is using used to go to outside tutoring services. "I feel very lucky that we have Kerry Graupman on board as well as a strong cadre of tutors," Hedges said. Graupman says that she worked about 40 hours before the center was up and running this spring. "I met with the principal and assistant principal of the high school and middle school to answer any questions they had. This also gave me a chance to introduce myself to them. I also met with transportation and worked out a schedule for busing." She says that a lot of communication is being done through email. The tutors all have email access to the teachers. Graupman also works closely with the secretaries in the counseling departments of the school to coordinate transmission of supplies a student might need, such as packets the teacher has made for the class. Graupman says that once a student is suspended, "I get the tutor, set up times and transportation. I contact the parent and have daily contact with the counseling office secretary to get work." Grampman graduated from D'Youville College in Buffalo with a degree in special education and elementary education. She lives in Spencerport with her two daughters and husband, Paul, an occupational therapist for Crestwood Children's Center. Besides suspended students, the Tutoring Center is also used for students awaiting placement to other situations and students who cannot attend a full day of school because of certain health problems. |
