Popular after-school program closed on Westside

Marisa O’Neil

Less than one week after a popular Westside after-school program

closed, Newport-Mesa Unified School District will be opening its own

at Wilson Elementary School.

News that the Wilson Street THINK Together center would close came

a couple weeks ago, leaving its 60 students without a place for

after-school activities. Realizing the need for such a program in

that area, the district allocated funds from an existing federal

grant to open a new, larger program on Monday.

“Instead of serving 60 students, we’ll be serving 160,” district

spokesperson Jane Garland said. “Instead of just a homework club we

will be doing literacy. The parents are getting a very good, early

Christmas gift. In this case a little extra money really changed

things.”

The new program will have enough room for all the students who

were previously enrolled in the Wilson Street program, including

students from other schools, she said. New students must all attend

Wilson Elementary School.

In fact, the new school has had so much interest from parents,

more than 180 students have enrolled and more names are on a waiting

list, Wilson Elementary School Principal Candy Sperling said. The new

program augments existing after-school programs at Wilson and will

use credentialed teachers and instructional assistants to teach

lessons like the district’s new reading program.

“Parents are very enthusiastic about getting the learning center

up and running at the school,” Sperling said. “Students will have

extended learning time, we’ll be able to address student performance,

have homework help and give them support for home.”

Because of budget problems, THINK -- which stands for Teaching,

Helping, Inspiring, Nurturing Kids -- closed the Wilson Street center

and a location in Santa Ana this week. THINK Together also owns the

Shalimar Learning Center, which is not affected by the closures.

Parents of children at the closed center, many of whom are English

learners and relied on the program for homework help, came to the

district for help. They could not give the program money to keep it

afloat but got approval to move grant money pegged for another school

to Wilson Elementary School, Garland said.

Wilson, she said, is one of the most in need schools in the

district.

More than three-quarters of its students are English learners, a

fact that has contributed to low test scores. Wilson was marked as a

Program Improvement school under the No Child Left Behind Act because

its Latino population tested below the proficiency level required for

the second year in a row. The general population met the

requirements.

“This is going to be a pilot program,” Garland said. “We thought

that if we could put two teachers and an instructional aid in

after-school, we could really make a difference. These kids are in

school all day with qualified teachers and this will give them two to

three hours extra a day of instruction.”

A second after-school program is also in the works. Harbor

Christian Fellowship Church, which housed the former THINK program,

is planning to open its own after-school program in January, the Rev.

Bill Gartner said.

“After having a learning center here for over a year, we found

that [parents] have a real loyalty to wanting it to stay open,”

Gartner said. “We want to stick with the model. We really liked it

and don’t want to reinvent the wheel.”

He anticipates 70 spots in the church’s program but said he is

encouraging any parents who want immediate help for their children to

enroll in the program at Wilson. The church will provide a place for

the parents who were attached to their former program to send their

students.

“I’ve been a member of this community for 12 years and I realize

the desperate need for this here,” Gartner said.

Harbor Christian Fellowship will hold an informational meeting for

parents interested in their program at 6 p.m. Dec. 6 at 740 W. Wilson

St. in Costa Mesa.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.