Newark, MD, March 4, 2024– Worcester County Public Schools (WCPS) was recently notified that it has been awarded a $150,000 grant award from the Donnie Williams Foundation to help fund critical summer academy programs at select schools.
Following the school system receiving Maintenance of Effort funding from the county last spring, school officials had to make significant cuts and reductions to the operating budget, one of which was the elimination of locally funded afterschool and summer academy programs at the following schools: Ocean City Elementary, Showell Elementary, Berlin Intermediate, Stephen Decatur Middle, and Stephen Decatur High.
“At the time, we promised the Board of Education that we would pursue every available avenue to secure funding to restore these critical programs,” said Superintendent of Schools Lou Taylor. “To date, we have been able to restore afterschool programs at these schools utilizing grant funds, and now, we are very grateful to the Donnie Williams Foundation for its help as we work on restoring our summer academies at these schools.”
The foundation, founded by Maryland native Donnie Williams, is committed to giving back to the communities that provided to him the benefits of a structured, traditional education program in his youth, leading to the foundation’s purpose of ensuring other students had the same opportunities Williams was afforded.
The school system’s scaled-back Summer Academy for the impacted schools is estimated to cost $377,000, including salaries for staff, materials, and transportation. The foundation grant coupled with recent approval from MSDE to apply $20,000 of Pre-K Expansion grant funding for this purpose, has now lessened this cost to approximately $207,000.
School officials are currently in talks with county government regarding funding the remaining $207,000 to ensure students in the impacted schools, many of whom qualify for free and reduced meal services as a result of their socioeconomic status, have access to these critical programs during the upcoming summer months.
“Summer slide is a real concern for many of our students,” Taylor said. “The students targeted for participation in summer academy are those most in need of academic remediation and enrichment opportunities, so we remain hopeful that our county government will help us bridge this funding gap for these students.”