Promise-keepers

Angelique Flores

Seven-year-old Allison Summers is reading at a fourth-grade level.

And because of students such as her, Sun View Elementary School is

deservedly named a School of Promise, which is part of America’s Promise

-- The Alliance for Youth. The America’s Promise program was launched in

1997 by Colin Powell, now secretary of State, and works to provide

children with five gifts to build character and competence.

The five gifts, or promises, are to provide the children with ongoing

relationships with caring adults in their lives, safe places with

structured activities outside school hours, a healthy start and future,

marketable skills through effective education, and opportunities to give

back through community service.

Schools in Schools of Promise, a program that began in November, are

designed to support these goals through partnerships with community

agencies.

Sun View, in Huntington Beach, is the first -- and, so far, the only

-- School of Promise school in the state. It registered with the program

in November. The school’s successful The Learning Zone program seems to

be tailor-made to fit what Powell had in mind for the School of Promise

program. In January, Sun View was named a model school in the School of

Promise program.

“I thought, at first, it was a glorified baby-sitting service,” said

Julie Peterson, Allison’s mom. “But every day she comes home, she’s

learned something new.”

The Learning Zone is a three-hour, after-school program for first-

through fifth-graders that teaches life skills and arts, as well as

enhances their academic curriculum through tutoring and “edutainment,”

which are games and recreational activities with educational principals.

“It’s not just a day care,” said Rick Riddell, program coordinator.

In keeping the children busy, program directors work to boost

children’s social skills and self-esteem in a loving, supervised

atmosphere.

“We don’t want them to commit or become victims of crime,” Riddell

said.

About 45% of Sun View’s students go home to an empty house, Riddell

said. Thirty-eight percent of the families are single-parent families.

Riddell “watches my daughter like a hawk,” said parent Vicki Crncic.

At The Learning Zone, students are supervised and educated with the

help of such groups as KOCE-TV, the Huntington Beach Library, the Los

Angeles Times and Huntington Beach Union High School District Adult

Education programs.

“It is one of the major strengths of the school,” Principal Allan

Pogrund said.

Pogrund said the programs reinforce classroom lessons and cites The

Learning Zone as a major reason why the school jumped 67 points in its

most recent Academic Performance Index scores. School officials also have

noticed a decrease in absenteeism and disciplinary problems since the

program began in June 1999.

“She’s learning ballet, batons and gets homework done,” Peterson said.

He said the benefits extend not only to the children, but to their

families as well through parent workshops. Having a safe place where her

daughter enjoys being after school has freed up time for Crncic, allowing

her to go back to school.

The Learning Zone has 150 children enrolled and meets four days a week

during the school year. Riddell intends to continue with it during the

summer.

Sun View’s School of Promise honor has opened more doors to building

partnerships with businesses, educational agencies, public service

organizations and other groups to help provide services to the students.

It has so far been running on a $550,000 federal grant given at the

program’s start and intended to last for the subsequent three years.

Besides the grant, the collaboration with community groups has helped to

keep The Learning Zone going.

Eventually, Riddell wants to extend it to Spring View Middle School

and Marina High School, so the students will have the continuity

throughout their school career. Riddell and his staff hope to build a

structure for Schools of Promise that can be duplicated at other schools.