Vancouver-based Educational Service District 112 has received a $292,600 grant to help students in three Columbia Gorge schools.
The money will support high-poverty students in the Lyle district’s middle school/high school and Dallesport Elementary, and in the Wishram district’s K-12 school.
It is part of a $1.1 million federal grant distributed to five recipients by the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The grants are part of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program. In addition to supporting core academic subjects, the centers provide students with a variety of other activities, including drug and violence prevention, counseling, art, music, recreation, technology, and character education programs.
The three schools in are Klickitat County and from 75 to 97 miles east of Vancouver. The two districts have about 300 students between them. Wishram, with 80 students, has a free- and reduced-price lunch rate of 100 percent; its four-year high school graduation rate is 50 percent.
According to ESD 112’s grant proposal, the communities’ locations mean they have limited Internet access. There are no youth organizations such as the YMCA, or Boys & Girls Clubs.
A small community youth center in White Salmon, up to 30 miles away, provides some nonacademic activities after school for students ages 7 to 17.
The grant will provide 30 minutes of assistance before each school day and more than two hours of after-school assistance for 30 weeks.
There also will be some Saturday and summer enrichment programs.
