NJ Education Report

Via CNN, KIPP NJ has figured out a novel way to accommodate parents who work days yet are concerned about their children’s academic growth: Offer night classes!

Example: Rachel Hodge is the single parent of two girls, ages 5 and 11, who both attend a KIPP charter school in Newark. Hodge works days in a hospital and, of course, her girls are engaged in full-day remote instruction. Her 11-year-old Gianna has the maturity and drive to keep up during the day, but Vanessa, her kindergartner? Not a chance.

So Hodge called the school and spoke to the Vanessa’s teacher, Meredith Eger, telling her “I was upset with myself that I had to sacrifice her education so I could be able to work.”

So KIPP came up with the answer: Evening classes from 6-8. Hodge was immediately on board. “The school was a big stressor for me, for myself and the kids,” she said. Night school “alleviated a lot of the stress and anxiety and also my worries of ‘Is she getting the adequate quality education that a kindergartener should be able to get?'”

Of course it takes a special teacher to instruct 28 students during the day and another 11 in the evening; Eger was initially hesitant. Not any more. “We have a few scholars that were absent the majority of September and almost all of October, but then the second we started the evening learning program, they have not missed one day,” she said.

And Hodge is happy too. “It’s been really hard doing this on my own and working in the hospital, trying to make ends meet and being able to go to school to further my education,” Hodge said. “I’m very fortunate that [Vanessa is] able to have a school that puts parents at top notch of priorities.”