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Area after-school program still going strong



Jessica Keller | Argus Observer Ontario High School freshman Adriana Rodriguez (from left), Balet Folklorico instructor Efrain Rivas and OHS graduate Ivan Carrillo practice a dance after school Friday at Ontario Middle School. Balet Folklorico is one of the classes offered as part of OMS's after school program.
JESSICA KELLER ARGUS OBSERVER

ONTARIO

This year marks the fifth year the Ontario Middle School after school and summer programs have been in place, and middle schoolers and staff are busier than ever with activities.

“We really have a lot going on,” OMS afterschool program director Suzie Douglas-Sap said.

Future funding, however, is always a priority for Douglas-Sap and others involved in after school and special programs at the middle school. Douglas-Sap also said community support is always needed to keep the programs in place for the children.

The three year, $280,000 grant through the Ford Family Foundation, which subsidized a variety of things - such as the OMS Young Ambassadors leadership program and parent education and training programs - is up at the end of this year. Douglas-Sap said that grant was very helpful because it allowed the school to examine what programs would work at the middle school.

Douglas-Sap said the three-year federal grant the middle school recently received to promote alcohol prevention and education at the middle school is currently helping much of the after school and summer programs continue.

One of the things the program needs at this point, as one round of after school program classes ends for the season, is volunteers to teach classes on any number subjects or interests, Douglas-Sap said, anything from photography to crocheting.

“We really need people who are willing to stop up and do that because there are always kids waiting to do that activity after school,” she said.

As of last May, the middle school had about 1,100 participants in the after school programs in the four years since it has been in place, Douglas-Sap said.

“So that's tremendous because that means at some time during their middle school experience, each kid participated in something,” Douglas-Sap said.

Continued funding for the OMS after school and summer programs is always a concern for staff, Douglas-Sap said, even if there is funding present.

“You know that's always in the back of your mind,” Douglas-Sap said. “You have to start thinking what are you going to do from the get-go.”

She said one of the misconceptions is if there is grant funding then all of the funding needs are set, when actually grants don't necessarily cover all the costs associated with running programs. Douglas-Sap also said grants only last for a certain length of time before they run out.

Grants are getting more difficult to secure, Xochitl Fuhriman-Ebert, director of special projects at OMS and grant program coordinator, said. Fuhriman-Ebert said there has been a reduction of federal grants for after school programs and it is not unlikely to have only 70 grants awarded with more than 200 to 300 applicants vying for them.

“You'd just as soon spend the same time to write a $10,000 grant as a $110,000 or $300,000 grant,” Fuhriman-Ebert said, adding the larger grants are even more competitive and hard to secure. “But once you get it, man, they're worth it,” she said, adding the federal level seed grants are often for a greater amount for a longer period of time - such as the recent three-year, $900,000 alcohol abuse prevention grant OMS received. Douglas-Sap said that's what officials think it takes to set up a program at a school and let it develop.

Once that seed money is spent, however, the school must take over funding the programs - usually through program fees. Douglas-Sap said, however, it is difficult for schools in rural communities such as Ontario to charge high fees because most of the childrens parents cannot afford to pay $250 a year to participate.

Which is why, Douglas-Sap said, community involvement is so important. “We have a lot coming up,” Douglas-Sap said. “We have a lot of ways for people to get involved.”




Comment Blog - Note: All Comments Subject To Approval

No Dhimmi wrote on Aug 14, 2009 9:38 PM:

" Islam is a woman-hating, human-enslaving ideology that should NOT be taught in our public schools. It's obvious the Saudis and the rest of the Muslim fanatics who are trying to take over the world have bought off the State of Oregon. Expect lawsuits.

And this isn't "racist," because Islam is not a race, anymore than Communism or Nazism are races, both of which killed far fewer people than Islam.

Disgusting. "

anonymous wrote on Aug 10, 2009 2:19 AM:

" The girl was Latasha Rodriguez "

Cody W. Ables wrote on May 16, 2008 11:04 PM:

" May 16, 2008

Here is something that we should all read. This is a letter from an angry woman in New Jersey regarding the War in Iraq and all of the war’s negative publicity. Pay attention.

'Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001?

Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan, across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania?

Did nearly three-thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was 'desecrated' when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet?...Well, I don't. I don't care at all.

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia .

I'll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed throat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called 'insurgents' in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college-hazing incident, rest assured: I don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank: I don't care.

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed 'special' food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being 'mishandled,' you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts: I don't care.

Sooner or later, it'll get to the people responsible for this ridiculous behavior!

If you don't agree, then by all means quit reading. Should you choose to do so, then please don't complain when more atrocities committed by radical Muslims happen here in our great Country! And may I add:

'Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem' -- Ronald Reagan

I have another quote that I would like to add

'If we ever forget that we're One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.' Also by.. Ronald Reagan

One last thought for the day:

In case we find ourselves starting to believe all the Anti-American sentiment and negativity, we should remember England 's Prime Minister Tony Blair's words during a recent interview. When asked by one of his Parliament members why he believes so much in America , he said: 'A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in.. And how many want out.'

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I.
Important for us all!!!!
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

MANY SEEM TO FORGET BOTH OF THEM. AMEN!’


I hope you take this woman’s viewpoint into consideration. It closely parallels my own. As I begin my journey in becoming a soldier of the greatest country in the world, hearing this woman’s words sets my heart at ease. It is warming to know that there are people in this great country who still care about those men and women who have no choice.


Cody W. Ables
U.S. Air Force Academy 2012
"


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