Students taking summer school credits may be subject to a fee for the first time in several years.
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) used its federal Elementary and Secondary School Relief Fund (ESSER) during the pandemic to waive summer school fees. Those funds have been reduced substantially by the federal government.
During the Board of Education’s (BOE) Thursday business meeting, members agreed to charge $350 per credit course with reductions for needy students, those who attend Title 1 schools and those who are emergent language learners.
During 2019, when the fees were last levied, 3,410 students enrolled in summer school. During the 2023 summer session, more than 13,000 students enrolled.
The main goals of MCPS’s summer school program are to help students improve their math and language art skills and to enable high school students obtain enough credits to graduate.
In person summer school will be available at Montgomery Blair, Richard Montgomery and Seneca Valley high schools. Some BOE members expressed concern that not all students could get to these schools, and MCPS administrators agreed to revisit that decision.
“In some of these areas in the upper county, it is challenging” to get to these schools, said BOE member Grace Rivera-Oven.
Online virtual classes also will be offered.
Board President Karla Silvestre expressed concerns that elementary school students taking math classes in the summer appeared to have improved during the program but overall math assessments later in the year showed no difference.
Administrators attributed that to some students not completing the summer class and others who were recommended for summer school not signing up. The district is looking into ways to counter this.
“Do we know why 66% [of students recommended for math summer classes] decline?” asked BOE Vice President Lynne Harris.
Some of the reasons given included parents not being able to pick up their student in the middle of the day and others preferring to let their children just have fun during the summer, according to administrators.
