CITY SCHOOLS EYE SATURDAY SESSIONS

Rutland High School students who cause trouble could spend Saturday
mornings in a classroom.

The weekend school day is just one of the new steps the city school
district will take to boost drug education and violence prevention
programs, thanks to a federal grant of nearly $100,000.

"If a student were to be assigned to Saturday school instead of in-house
suspension, they would be able to go to their classes and not fall behind
in their work," Assistant Superintendent John Stempek said Wednesday.

The Saturday school plan was included in a presentation this week to the
School Board by administrators discussing how the district intends to spend
the federal grant funds.

"We still have details that need to be worked out," Stempek said of
Saturday school. "But it's going to happen."

School officials still need to decide which hours the Saturday school would
run and what students would be expected to do.

Rutland High Principal Peter Folaros is scheduled to discuss those details
at the next School Board meeting set for May 28.

"It will just be for the high school," Stempek said. "It could be every
Saturday, depending on how it's used."

The plan reads: "Instead of sending students home or onto the streets, they
would be assigned to a four-hour Saturday program that would eliminate some
suspensions and improve their academic performance."

Saturday school would not be appropriate for all offenses, Superintendent
Mary Moran said during the presentation.

In some case, she added, it may prove to be the answer.

"This is just another tool," Moran said.

Folaros told the School Board that high school officials have talked about
Saturday school as a way to respond to students who don't show up for
detention.

More serious offenses, such as fighting, would lead to harsher penalties,
he said.

Currently, Folaros said, a missed detention can lead to in-school suspension.

However, that takes students out of the classroom during the school day.
That's how the idea of Saturday school came about, he said.

"This is something they have been talking about for a while, trying to
figure out how to fund," Stempek said.

The availability of federal grant money led school officials to give it a try.

Earlier this school year, the Rutland school district was notified that it
was eligible to receive a $98,720 federal grant through the Safe and Drug
Free Schools and Communities program.

Rutland is one of six school districts across the state eligible for the
funding. The grants are based on the needs of the communities gathered from
surveys about youth drug and alcohol use, state statistics, and annual
reports submitted by school administrators.

Areas of concern in Rutland included tobacco and marijuana use, as well as
delinquency.

In order to receive the grant, the school district had to submit a plan to
the state that detailed how they planned to spend the funds.

An advisory council consisting of school leaders, community members and
social services officials helped to develop the plan. Recently, the Rutland
City school district submitted its plan to the state and gained approval.

The plan they came up with includes:

* $4,000 for Saturday school.

* $10,000 to help the school fund a third school resource officer.

* $10,000 to develop a plan of alternatives for students to pursue before
they are sent to the district's Success School.

* $60,000 to hire a licensed nurse for 18 months to serve primary schools
and the Success School.

* $14,720 to contract with adventure-based learning groups.