Changes are on the way for a free tutoring program for city school kids, and the head of one local tutoring company says they won’t benefit students.
The program is known as Supplemental Educational Services, or SES. It used to be federally mandated for qualified students in low performing schools, but now districts in New York can drop the program if they choose.
The Rochester City School District will still offer SES under the new name Extended Learning. But, Karen Iglesia, President and CEO of Iglesia Educational Services, says the new model for the program is too restrictive for students.
Now kids can only be tutored at their schools, and Iglesia says that negatively impacts students who have to take care of siblings or play sports after school, "But they may come to us later on in the evening or on a Saturday or a Sunday, what about those students that need a different environment, other than their school setting because school has been a long day - they just need a change in environment. What about those kids that have been suspended from school that can still get tutoring but they can't get it on school premises?"
Iglesia also says the new model doesn't allow parents and students to choose the tutoring company they want to work with - instead the district will decide what companies can work at selected schools.
Applications for tutoring providers are due next week.