WHITE SALMON — White Salmon Valley School District (WSVSD) is bringing much-needed after school childcare options to families in the new year.
Champions Before and After School Program — for students in grades K-6 — is coming to Wallace & Priscilla Stevenson Intermediate School after winter break; transportation will be provided for Whitson Elementary students. Program activities include art, literacy, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), homework support and healthy snacks, along with fitness “to support the education, health and wellness of [WSVSD] students,” according to a district press release.
Rich Polkinghorn
Superintendent, WSVSD
Jennifer Pauletto
Executive director, WAGAP
“After school care is such a critical need for our community,” said Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn in a follow-up email, adding that the program will “offer more opportunities for families to have a safe place for their young children to go after school.”
Washington Gorge Actions Programs (WAGAP) Executive Director Jennifer Pauletto and Polkinghorn are also finalizing details of the lease agreement that will bring WAGAP’s free Community Youth Center to the district’s Park Center Building. The topic was one of the reports heard by the school board at its Nov. 20 meeting.
WAGAP has operated the program since 1994, Pauletto said, and has been housed at its current location on Jewett — a former American Legion building owned by the City of White Salmon — for the past 13 years. She was joined at the meeting by Lesli Cervantes, Sarah Fortanel and Julie Salazar, youth center program coordinators and former WSVSD students, to discuss the advantages of moving into the Park Center Building.
All present board members voiced favor for the move.
“WAGAP is appreciative of our partnership with the City of White Salmon all these years to provide a safe and stable environment for the youth center, and we are also excited to move toward a future where a new space can provide opportunities for more youth activities in a more up-to-date building,” said Pauletto in a follow-up email. She noted that with both Rheingarten Park and Whitson Elementary nearby, students will be able to play outside and walk to the youth center from school.
Polkinghorn said in a follow-up email the Park Center Building has been used by the community in various capacities over the years. “The district wants this building to be used for the public good,” he said. “The community youth center is an important program that serves many youth in our community, so we are excited for this partnership and seeing this building used to serve our youth.”
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