WEST AFTER SCHOOL CENTER
NEWS & OPINION

August 2007

Our mission is to provide opportunities that enrich the educational, social, and cultural experiences of students and families in our community.

620 Garfield Avenue, Lancaster, OH  43130  --    740-653-5678  --  740-653-2402 FAX

  The Cedar Community Learning Center

                 The West After School Center will expand child care services and 21st CCLC programming for students in the Cedar Heights Elementary attendance area this coming school year. The WASC was awarded an additional 21st CCLC grant this month to make this satellite center a reality. Therefore, the Cedar Center will first enroll students based on their performance in reading and math. In addition, students will be accepted for before or after school childcare. Families that qualify for Title XX childcare support can enroll under a co-pay system developed with Fairfield County Job and Family Services. Participation rates will be made as affordable as possible.  The WASC is pleased to be working in the Cedar Heights area and to further expand our mission and address needs within the city of Lancaster. Our new staff at Cedar Heights will be announced soon!

Email:  pyoung@westafterschoolcenter.org

Visit us at www.westafterschoolcenter.org

Dr. Paul G. Young, Executive Director

Mrs. Jane Hart, Student & Family Coordinator

Mrs. Julie Bibler, Tutoring Program Administrator

Mrs. Chris Kuttler, Office Manager

Need Your GED?

Beginning Tuesday, August 28, classes will be held each Tuesday and Thursday morning at the WASC, 9:30-11:30 a.m. You can walk right in and learn while your children are attending school. To learn more, call Fairfield Career Center and ask for Pat Wolford or Sherry Childress.

After School Tutoring Programs Will Utilize

LeapTrack Technology in 2007-2008

            This coming school year, our after school tutoring programs at the WASC, Cedar Heights, and the Eastside Center for Success will utilize award-winning grade-level classroom and resource room learning kits that easily integrate assessments and interactive instruction for multiple learning levels in Reading, Math, and Language Arts. The LeapTrack Program delivers hundreds of engaging learning activities specially designed to promote student desire to learn. It promotes student learning through direct instruction and the following technology-empowered curriculum features:

· audio assistance

· immediate feedback

· an option to repeat instruction as often as needed

Leap Track provides opportunities for student learning that are directly related to specific skills students need to learn. It offers flexible, personal strategic tutoring in a self-paced format using affordable, personal learning tools (PLTs) and preserves teacher time with an engaging independent learning model. LeapTrack meets the needs of mixed-ability learners and strengthens the home-school connection. It promotes success through ongoing formative assessment and differentiated instruction and creates personalized learning paths based on system-generated assessment results. Teachers can prevent learning gaps with LeapTrack because the reports generated by the computer alert the need for early intervention or additional skill practice.

Expect to Connect

The ability to connect with people is one of the most significant factors that contributes to success in relationships. In families where parents and children really connect with each other, happiness is evident. Likewise, satisfaction levels are high and connections are strong among parents and after school personnel when it is clear that people like each other. Everyone wants love and attention, and where people make favorable impressions upon others, connections grow. Our goal at the West After School Center is to develop training and implement strategies for parents, students, and staff that enable positive connections to be made in any setting. Expect to connect with us, and vice-versa, us with you in 2007-2008.

Connection can be something as simple as making good eye contact. It doesn’t have to be forced and uncomfortable, yet eye contact and good listening skills in conversations reinforce interpersonal connections. We plan to teach those skills to our students and hope that our parents, volunteers, and business partners will join us in this learning endeavor. We also want you to help us do a better job. This work will create a better climate and help everyone feel good about themselves.

Building positive connections involves other factors, especially attention and intention. Attention requires focus on people and a display of care for what they need. Attention to the details of really small things account for a great deal in the development of strong connections. Without attention, there can be no connection. Intention means really being engaged in every interaction. If it appears that our staff is just going through the motions of making connections, they won’t develop. The same outcomes result if parents lack the intention of making their interactions with school personnel really count.

Connections also flourish with smiles. We intend to greet you with a smile, good eye contact, and listen carefully to your needs. We hope you will do likewise, and particularly help our students learn these skills. Along with manners and understanding of etiquette, we can help our children gain the edge for connecting with teachers in secondary school and eventual entry into postgraduate study, the military, and/or the workforce.

Connections happen when you think about making them. You also have to talk about it and model it every day. Making connections is what top performing businesses do all the time. Expect to connect. It is our shared goal for the year. The rewards and benefits will make everyone better!

Watch our Television Show on  the LSN

Channel 6 Time Warner Cable

New episodes air at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, right after Jack Greathouse's "STUFF"

SUMMER CHILDCARE at the WASC

The West After School Center is accepting applications for its summer childcare program (safe, clean, affordable, and air-conditioned). The center will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. to accommodate the needs of working parents (based on adequate participation levels during those hours). Meals and snacks will be included in the weekly cost of the care. Any school age child (entering grades 1-6) from Lancaster or surrounding areas may register. Families that are eligible for Title XX benefits may have a portion or all of their weekly costs reduced. This program service will operate until Friday, August 17. 

We Thank Our Partners

Ohio University-Lancaster (Reading Academy)

The Ohio State University Extension   (Master Gardeners)

The Robert K Fox Family Y (Summer Lunch Program and Recreational Opportunities)

Art & Clay on Main (Summer Art Classes)

Eastside Center for Success (Summer Art Classes)

Lancaster-Fairfield County Community Action Head Start (ELI Classes)

New Horizons Youth and Family Center (Conflict Management Training)

Fairfield County Family, Adult, and Children First Council (21st CCLC Program Support)

Fairfield County Jobs and Family Services (custodial workers)

The Recovery Center (Family Nights)

Red Barn Productions

Sixth Avenue United Methodist Church

Eastland-Fairfield Career Center

Fairfield Foundation (Kitchen)

United Way of Fairfield County

The flagship program of the West After School Center is the After School Tutoring Program which targets those students needing additional help in reading and math. Other programs and services are open to students and families of

West Elementary School and our community 

Phone 740-653-5678 for information answers to your questions.