The Mid-Prairie school board heard a presentation from Rachel Kerns, director, and Molly Steinbrech, assistant director of the Mid-Prairie Home School Assistance Program on Monday, Feb. 14.
The …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you had a login with the previous version of our e-edition, then you already have a login here. You just need to reset your password by clicking here.
If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
|
The Mid-Prairie school board heard a presentation from Rachel Kerns, director, and Molly Steinbrech, assistant director of the Mid-Prairie Home School Assistance Program on Monday, Feb. 14.
The MP-HSAP currently serves 481 students from 215 families (470 on count day), including 142 from the Mid-Prairie district, 220 open-enrolled students and 108 from 28E Agreements with Clear Creek Amana, English Valleys, Lone Tree, Keota and Williamsburg. When the program started in 1997, the program served only 24 students and has grown steadily ever since.
The 470 students generate over $1,258,500 of funding authority for the district. Of that amount, over $867,000 is income paid directly to Mid-Prairie from other districts for home school students that open enroll into Mid-Prairie.
“We really focus on parent-directed learning,” Kerns said. “This means that parents are in charge of what their students are studying. Every month we send out a newsletter to our families that highlights the activities that we do. Parents get to choose whether or not they participate.”
The Home School Education Center hosts 31 middle and high school classes each week and 119 students attend classes there on Mondays. There are also 10 elementary classes each week with between 50 and 60 students attending on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
“We want to keep our building full. We realize that it’s an investment that the community is placing in the Home School Education Center, for us to be there,” Kerns said.
“We hope to make schooling a little more well-rounded as they get to work with other kids in a similar age dynamic and enriching topics that go above and beyond what they’re doing in their homes,” Steinbrech said.
The Home School Assistance Program offers an alternative to education in a traditional classroom, allowing parents to choose what is best for their family.
“Most of our families, if not all of our families, are home schooling because they believe in home schooling. They want to home school because it’s the right choice for their family,” Kerns said. “If you look at our open enrollment number, there’s only 142 students from the Mid-Prairie district that could potentially go back to the public school. Of those 142 students, I don’t think we’re supporting anyone at the home school education center who feels like they would be in the public school if we weren’t there.”
Schneider said he was recently approached by another school district that wants to create a 28E agreement so that Mid-Prairie can provide their home school services but the student can remain a resident of their district and participate in activities there.
“I was a home school kid essentially through eighth grade and my parents had none of this,” said board president Jeremy Pickard. “I really appreciate the work you do and it’s really important. Other districts are still coming to you to figure out how to have a model like [yours] to support their students.”