Before-school program to help A.E. Wright

Before-school program to help A.E. Wright

By John Loesing

Acorn Staff Writer

The new 9 a.m. start time at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas has left teachers and administrators in a quandary.

Classes previously started at 8 a.m. and ran until 2:15 p.m., but the hours this year are 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. The later starting time, officials said, is saving the school district $25,000 in special education busing costs.

But parents who must drive to work in the morning are still dropping off their children at the earlier time, asking the school—in effect—to serve as babysitter for the extra hour.

Each morning, dozens of students can be seen milling around the playground waiting for school to start.

"We really don’t like it unless the kids are dropped off right before school," said Steve Rosentsweig, A.E. Wright principal.

School officials think they have a solution; the students are being invited to spend the extra hour before school at the Agoura Hills/ Calabasas Community Center about one mile away.

When it’s time for classes to start, the students will be taken to the school in a city-operated bus.

"We feel some parents would really benefit by a program like that," Rosentsweig said.

Students at the Community Center will be allowed to study, use the gymnasium or participate in other activities during the morning session. The Community Center currently runs a similar program for after school.

The morning session will run from 7:30 until 8:45 a.m. and will cost $400 a semester and the registration deadline is Fri., Sept. 27.

"If we meet our minimum of 30 students registered and paid for by then, then we’ll start Oct. 14," said Barbara Len Phillips, Community Center director.

The remainder of the first semester will cost $265, Phillips said.

The afternoon program, which operates from 3:30 until 6:30 p.m. and has about 50 students, costs only $145 per semester, but Phillips said that program has been subsidized.

"We’re trying to be a self-sufficient, self-reliant center," she said. "The program needs to pay for itself."

Phillips stresses that the morning program will be a "drop-in" service only, meaning there will be no organized activities or roll calling.

Community Center staffer Brandon Ferguson will direct both the morning and afternoon sessions. He’ll have several assistants to help him during the morning, depending on turnout.

The before-school program also will be open to students at Lindero Canyon Middle School in Agoura Hills. The city of Agoura Hills will provide a bus for those students.

Classes at both Lindero and A.E. Wright start at 9 a.m.