Whiteville City Schools see an increase in summer school enrollment

WHITEVILLE, NC (WWAY) —Whiteville City Schools putting a positive spin on the number of students attending summer school.

More than a third of students in Whiteville City Schools are attending summer school, which is more than 670 students.

The superintendent says despite the increased enrollment, the district didn’t see as many academic shortfalls as they anticipated. Remote learning during the pandemic created challenges for many students.

“Our learning losses, from what we’ve seen, we’re not as great as what we had anticipated we might would have seen. So overall the learning losses was not as great for us, and I feel like also, –that could be contributed to our size,” said Dr. Marc Whichard, Whiteville City Schools superintendent.

There are three summer school options available to students read to achieve, retesting and remediation, and a new option that is driving the summer school attendance numbers up.

“The newest option, that is probably most unfamiliar to individuals, is what we’re calling, essentially, the legislative summer school opportunity for families that have had difficulty during the pandemic, in the regular academic year,” said Dr. Marc Whichard.

With the option leading to increased enrollment, the district believes it will greatly benefit students, and their families.

“It’s essentially 24 days that we’re working with students, from 8am-3pm each day, providing meals, providing fun activities for students, but also intensive remediation to help give those students a jumpstart into the next academic year,” said Whichard.

To help with in-class instruction for the next school year, Whiteville City Schools is using federal stimulus money to hire more teachers. The district says this change will help reduce class sizes, and create a more individualized learning experience for students.