An after-school program to be offered at St. Ignace Area Schools this year will be designed to promote learning and child development. The $212,000, three-year contract that funds the program comes from Child and Family Services of the Upper Peninsula, Inc., and St. Ignace and Marquette schools are the only U.P. districts to receive it.

Now in the planning stages, Lani Fettig, the project coordinator at St. Ignace, said after-school activities will be held from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday at St. Ignace Elementary School.

“We’re just getting started,” Mrs. Fettig said, but she plans daily homework sessions, snacks, crafts, sports, and other activities.

“We’ll get tutors and student teachers in to help, soon,” she said, adding that the project will provide income to student teachers.

As the school year progresses, she also plans to have special speakers, field trips, family programming, and community service projects, such as planting flowers and raking leaves.

“It just makes sense,” she said of the service projects. “We did things like this in the past. It’s a good way for kids to give back to their community.”

A full day of summer programming is also being planned.

Child and Family Services of the Upper Peninsula, Inc., based in Marquette, is a private, not-for-profit social services agency, one of nine regional groups affiliated with child and Family Services of Michigan, Inc. The U.P. agency was started in 1919 and has been running after school programs since 1993, said Amber Peterson, who administers them. When her organization was informed that Michigan had received federal money for low income students, she wrote a proposal and received contract money for programs in Marquette and Mackinac counties.

Danny Peterson, CEO of Child and Family Services of the Upper Peninsula, Inc., said, “We are excited to offer new and improved services to children and families through a public school-private agency collaboration. This is a great day for children, parents, and the communities we collectively serve.”

Schools initially targeted for the program were those that did not meet the federal Academic Yearly Progress (AYP) standard. The AYP, according to LaSalle High School Principal Don Gustafson, is a set of criteria designed to push schools to increase student aptitude in language arts and mathematics.

“In the eleventh hour, however, the project was expanded to include schools which did meet the AYP standard,” Amber Peterson said. But by then it was too late in the contractual process to include more schools. Schools needed specific licenses, such as day care licenses, for Child and Family Services to include them.

She was able to include four more schools in Marquette County with funding, because they already had the necessary licenses and paperwork on file with Child and Family Services.

Programs funded through the contract must include academic help for students, with an emphasis on reading and writing.

Other requirements are to augment other aspects of child development, such as leadership, conflict resolution, anger management, mentoring, and preparation for future self-sufficiency.

In the beginning, students will meet together in one place, Mrs. Fettig said, but they will be divided by age as the project develops.

After-school sessions will be free for children who receive free and reduced lunches, Medicaid, FIP, or food assistance. Others are required to pay $6 a day.

For families with more than one student attending, there will a $4 additional charge per student.

“That may change, though,” said Mrs. Fettig. “Those are the amounts charged in the Marquette area, but the cost may be too high for this area.”

The challenge in Mackinac County is transportation for the students who need this program, since many of the most needy students come from rural areas. With the busing problem in St. Ignace, alterations in the project, or further funding, may be needed.

Until the transportation problem is resolved, parents are required to pick up their children by 6 p.m.

“The worry,” said Ms. Peterson, “is that kids who need these programs the most won’t attend.”

Even so, she remains optimistic.

“There may be a small amount of funding that can be relocated, which could provide busing two days per week,” she said. At present, however, no decisions have been made.

“We are hoping to work with other organizations in the community to enable these children to attend the program,” she added.

For more information and an application, parents can contact Lani Fettig at 643-7822.