Churches provide summer tutoring to help students retain basic skills

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Ra'Vein Jones is already done with her worksheet.

Sitting at a back table in the basement of Yakima's Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, she explains the intricacies of the assignment: combining like terms.

It's pre-algebra. And the 12-year-old makes it sound easy.

"All you have to do is add the numbers," she says, deciphering the first problem on a piece of paper covered with lots of numbers and Xs and Ys.

This summer, the incoming seventh-grader is spending three mornings a week brushing up on her math skills. It's the second year she's participated in the free summer tutoring program, which aims to keep kids current with not only math, but reading and writing.

The Kirkland Academy for Excellence at Bethel AME is one of at least two free tutoring programs offered by local churches in response to limited summer offerings in the Yakima School District this summer.

Both churches are located in east Yakima, a predominantly Latino neighborhood where school supplies are often hard to come by and most students -- more than 90 percent at Washington Middle School and Barge-Lincoln, Garfield and Adams elementary schools -- qualify for free or reduced lunch.

The programs serve about 40 students each.

Bethel's program started last summer as a small pilot project, serving 10 to 20 students with the help of volunteer tutors, most of whom were members of the church. It now serves at least twice that number.

It's also more organized this year and based on a new movement within the Fifth Episcopal District of the AME Church, which includes 15 Western states, as well as Alaska and India.

About six blocks away, on the corner of East Yakima Avenue and North Sixth Street, First Baptist Church/Iglesia Comunidad Cristiana put together its program in just two months, hiring five YSD teachers to tutor children at the church during their summer vacation.

"We really had two goals in mind when we started," says the pastor, the Rev. Dave Roberts. "One was the whole academic thing. ... The other was to let the community know we care about what's going on in the community."

The program at his church includes swimming lessons twice a week at the Yakima Family YMCA next door. It also includes chapel time.

But at Bethel, volunteer tutor Willette Cheatom stresses Kirkland Academy is not Vacation Bible School. Volunteers aim to foster a respectful environment, but "We don't teach them religion; that's not part of it," she says.

"It's basically to keep kids up to speed so they don't have to start all over again in the fall. It's tutoring and teaching."

Kirkland Academy for Excellence, or KAE, is the brainchild of Mary Kirkland, supervisor of the Fifth Episcopal District and wife of Bishop Larry T. Kirkland. Its mission, according to its website at kirklandacademy.com, is to "enhance and augment the education of young people within the AME churches and surrounding communities."

And Yakima's Bethel AME Church is on the forefront.

So far, it's the only AME church in Washington state -- as well as the AME Church's entire Pacific Northwest Conference -- to have officially started a Kirkland Academy.

One other -- Ebenezer AME Church in Bremerton, Wash. -- is piloting the program, according to Kirkland, who lives in southern California, where there are four official academies.

"We're starting with pilot programs, then moving on from that," says Kirkland, who started the initiative about a year ago. "We're very excited about it, and we're hoping it will be of help to anybody who needs it."

Private tutoring programs for students who need extra help or want to get ahead can be expensive, she says, stressing she wants to make extra help or enrichment accessible to young people whose families might not otherwise be able to afford it.

Many of the students who live near both churches are students of color. Most come from low-income families.

"It's trying to give them a push forward," says Donna Janovitch, a retired Yakima and Union Gap teacher and principal. She's worked as a reading specialist as well as with migrant education and bilingual programs. "I think this is exciting, what we're trying to do."

This is her second summer volunteering with Bethel's program. This year, she's teaching reading and language arts to third-graders through high schoolers.

The session started June 15 and runs through today. Classes ran Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and were open to all Yakima-area students.

Many who attend are Bethel members. But some go to other churches. And church membership isn't a requirement. Any preschool through twelfth-grade Yakima students can participate.

At the beginning of the summer, "I was just praying for 25," says volunteer tutor Brenda Bone, a Bethel member and former teacher's aide. Now, she says, "The basement is getting too small."

Organizers say they made more of an effort to recruit students this year when they learned summer school in the Yakima School District -- the region's largest, with about 14,600 students -- would be limited. The district is relying heavily on federal dollars earmarked specifically for migrant students to provide summer sessions.

And, with additional shortfalls predicted in state revenue, next year's state education budget could be even more bleak. That, in turn, could mean more cutbacks at the local level. Grassroots community efforts, like these two church programs, might be able to help bridge the gap. At least, that's Roberts' hope.

The first-year tutoring program at his church at 515 E. Yakima Ave. wraps up Friday.

Forty students in kinder-
garten through second grade are enrolled. Most aren't members of the church, which is spending about $15,000 of its own funds to run the program. A small grant from its denomination is also helping.

First Baptist is paying five YSD teachers. And the YMCA has partnered with the program, offering a price break on swimming lessons.

"We really put it together in less than two months. If we do it again, we need to get organized sooner," Roberts says, adding, "We will also need to find some financial partners."

Eventually, organizers of Bethel's program are hoping to become a nonprofit organization, apply for grants, and increase the number of children, volunteers and donors.

And that's something Roberts also says he's interested in pursuing.

Meanwhile, at Bethel, the tutoring program is relying on donations -- in-kind and cash -- for supplies and services from breakfast foods to computer maintenance. The program is staffed by eight to 10 regular volunteers, about half of whom are church members, like Bone.

"I did not want our children to lose their skills," she says. "Usually, when they go back to school they spend the first quarter just reviewing. I'm hoping they retain some of their skills and be further along once school starts."

These days, students arrive at the church at 515 S. Sixth St. around 8:30 a.m. for breakfast. Lessons begin at 9 and run until noon, when lunch -- part of the Yakima School District's Summer Food Service Program -- is served.

Classes are divided by age. There's a preschool program, a session for students in kindergarten through second-grade, an elementary school program, and a class for middle and high schoolers.

Cheatom and her husband, Leone, both tutor students. And their granddaughter, 12-year-old Lyric, an incoming seventh-grader, is one of them.

"It gave me something to do in the summer," Lyric says. "It's just better than sitting around the house."

She says the work is "medium hard, but not too hard. It's challenging. It just helps kids who don't want to forget all the stuff they learned in the school year."

Johnathan Dowe, a 14-year-old incoming eighth-grader, says, "I think it's pretty cool coming here. Mostly, it keeps me off the streets.

"It's been helping out a lot. I hope to come back next year."

* Adriana Janovich can be reached at 509-577-7653 or ajanovich@yakimaherald.com.