After unexpectedly losing grant funding a year ago, White County Schools has received money to support its after-school programs.
White County Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said said after-school programs will be returning to all six elementary schools but not the middle school. Dronebarger said he is pleased to see some of the federal funding coming back to support the programs.
“Well, it’s big,” Dronebarger said. “Just being able to work with those students that need extra help, or maybe families that need that time. We are able to utilize that time well and to make sure students are on top of their academic studies, so that’s first and foremost, our most important objective.”
Dronebarger said the amount of funding that the school system will receive is still unknown. Four of the seven after-school programs did not receive federal funding last year. Dronebarger said the grant will cover the costs of three of the programs, while the school system will cover the remaining programs.
The middle school program will not return because of a lack of need.
“We just didn’t see the return on investment,” Dronebarger said. “And that was one that we were locally funding. There just, were not many students staying afterward at that level. Of course, a lot of middle school and high school students, obviously, can stay home by themselves. So there’s not that need for after-school care, but we are gonna do some targeted tutoring with some of that local money.”
Dronebarger said receiving the grant again allows the school system to reapply for funding for all six after-school programs. Dronebarger said the school system has previously received the funding for the past 20 years and he is still unsure why the school system did not receive the funding last year.
“Well, the reason we didn’t receive it last year, there was no justification,” Dronebarger said. “They gave us a list of the folks that did receive it in the state of Tennessee, and it was a lot of folks that were outside of the Pre-K-12 realm, but I don’t know any rhyme or reason as to why we didn’t receive it.”
Dronebarger said these funds are part of a federal hold on money for title funds. Dronebarger said the school system has also received some Title I and Title V funds. Dronebarger said there are still funds that have not been released.
“We are still holding out of some Title II and IV funding that’s in the amount of a quarter of a million dollars that we just don’t know about going into the school year,” Dronebarger said.
Dronebarger said the school system is planning to start the after-school programs on August 18.