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(Beyond the Bell summer school students)
Many Los Angeles Unified students who need to make up a failed class, or just want to get ahead by taking summer school, are out of luck, according to a new report by the Daily News.
For the second year in a row, the district is only able to scrape together $1 million for the summer school program, Beyond the Bell, which means thousands of students have to scramble to get spaces in one of the 10 classes for core subjects at just 16 of the district’s 100-plus high schools.
Before the recession, the program had a $42 million budget for summer school, allowing students to take a variety of elective classes, as well as credit-recovery classes.
Now the 5,100 summer school seats are reserved for students who need to make up a failed class, with priority given to ninth-graders and incoming seniors.
Most of these spots were already snapped up at the end of the school year, when students realized they would not pass a class, leaving almost no opportunity for other students to get a seat when the summer school program began.
Read the whole story here, and be sure to check out the accompanying pictures of long lines and frustrated students at one LAUSD high school.
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