Camden administrators and students make a plea to sign up for summer school

After failing three classes while juggling school and family responsibilities his junior year, Mahaaj Jones was grateful to attend summer school and have a chance to graduate with his class.

Despite more personal setbacks this year, too, Jones, 17, managed to stay on track and will walk across the stage next week with his peers from the Big Picture Learning Academy in Camden.

Jones, who plans to attend Pennco Technical School in September to pursue his dreams of becoming an electrician, said summer helped him turn around his academics.

A second chance was just what Jones and dozens of others needed who had fallen behind after suffering learning losses during the pandemic and personal challenges. Camden schools were among the last in the region to fully reopen.

“It definitely helped me focus,” said Jones. “Especially growing up in Camden, you know there’s not too many second chances.”

» READ MORE: ‘I’m glad I got this opportunity to make up my wrongs.’ Summer school offers a second chance for Camden students to catch up

Jones joined school Superintendent Katrina McCombs and Mayor Victor Carstarphen at a news conference Thursday to make an appeal to Camden students to sign up for summer school. About 700 have registered so far, and more may need to make up classes after final grades are submitted next week, a spokeswoman said.

“The power of a second chance,” McCombs said. Last year, nearly 1,000 students enrolled in summer school.

The credit recovery program offers high school students a chance to make up work in four core classes and get back on track for the 2023-24 school year. Younger students attend enrichment programs.

All public school students in Camden, from rising kindergartners to high schoolers, are eligible for the free summer school, McCombs said. Breakfast and lunch will be provided, as well as transportation for eligible students. The programs begin July 5 and run through Aug. 4.

McCombs said summer school would increase student achievement and boost graduation rates. Under state takeover since 2013, the district has struggled to improve its four-year graduation rate. After a decline during the pandemic, the rate improved in 2021-22 to 70%, still among the lowest in the region. The state average is 91%.

» READ MORE: First N.J. standardized test scores since the pandemic show students still struggling

The program will cost about $500,000, McCombs. Students enrolled in the city’s traditional schools, as well as charter and Renaissance schools, are eligible to enroll, she said.

“It’s worth every penny,” the superintendent said.

The district also offers a “bridge program” to help students transition from middle school. Alani Burke, 18, a graduating senior at the Creative Arts High School, said her mother made her sign up for the program before high school. She made friends, learned her way around and met her teachers before the school year.

“I’m glad she forced me,” she said with a smile. She plans to major in education at Tennessee State University on a full scholarship and play with its famed marching band.

Speaking without notes from the side of the podium, Darrell Perry III, 8, said he enjoyed the enrichment classes because they provide a “fun and safe learning environment.”

“Why don’t you come join me?” said the Yorkship Elementary School second grader.

Faced with the possibility of being held back, students who need to make up credits are often highly motivated in summer school. The environment is more relaxed and classes are shorter, about an hour. The program also has tough discipline: no more than three absences.

There are various reasons why some students fall behind academically, including difficult home situations and some have personal challenges, experts say. Some miss first-period classes because they must first ready younger siblings for school and end up arriving late.

Jones had to pick up his siblings after school and then head to a part-time job to help support the family. He said it was also difficult transitioning to in-person classes last year.

This year was just as challenging, Jones said. His older brother died of a heart attack in September, and in February, his 66-year-old father died. But he stayed focused.

“My senior year was horrible. It took a toll on me,” Jones acknowledged. “I still made it through.”

The youngest of his father’s four children and the second to obtain a diploma, Jones said he hopes to make proud his dad and his classmates who rallied around him after the deaths.

“I wish he had been here to see it,” Jones said. “I know he’s here in my spirit.”