KPS starting summer school program for students who fell behind during pandemic

Many students have slipped behind in their education during a chaotic year of online schooling. That’s especially true for Kalamazoo Public Schools, which decided in February to remain online-only for the rest of this school year.

KPS is hoping a new summer school program will help students who fell behind.

The Summer Readiness program will be held in-person from June 28 through August 5. Open to all ages, the camps will be held in two three-week sessions and offer students a chance to catch up before the 2021-22 school year.

“Our Summer Readiness program is an initial step in starting to undo some of the damage caused by COVID-19,” said Superintendent Rita Raichoudhuri during a Thursday school board meeting. “You’ll notice that we are not calling it summer school because it isn’t. This was not a typical year. Our students didn’t fail, our children survived a pandemic, and they are still surviving it.”

Camps will be grouped by school level with high schoolers meeting at Loy Norrix, middle schoolers meeting at Hillside, and elementary school students meeting at Northeastern, Parkwood-Upjohn, Woodward, and King-Westwood. Additionally, incoming kindergartners will meet at Greenwood.