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CNN Live Saturday

Summer School Enrollment Is Up

Aired July 07, 2001 - 16:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Some students have opted out of summer vacation, thousands are hitting the books in summer school. Here's CNN's Maria Hinojosa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Summer time in New York City, great weather, great parks and great summer school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't expect to be here, but things got messed up, so I ended up taking English and economics in summer school.

HINOJOSA: 17-year-old Caroline Bradway (ph) had no choice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My guidance counselor called my house and told me that I wasn't going to graduate.

HINOJOSA: Unless she took English and economics this summer, did all her homework and passes.

New York City summer school enrollment is the largest ever, a third of the city's 1.1 million students are enrolled, up 15 percent from last year. Schools chancellor Harold Levy says those soaring numbers are a good things.

HAROLD LEVY, NEW YORK CITY SCHOOL CHANCELLOR: Summer school is terribly important for children who would otherwise not be able to get through this course here on their own. I want to make sure that every child has an opportunity to graduate on time and do so with decent grades.

HINOJOSA: But there are critics.

PROF. TOM SOBOL, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: The bad news is that a large number of children are not acquiring the skills and knowledge they need in order to pass on to the next grade. Somehow or other, we are failing them during the regular school year.

HINOJOSA: Across the country, summer school attendance is also up, a result, many say, of trying to stem the practice of social promotion, moving kids on just because of their age. Now students are being forced to pass a grade before they can move up. And summer school raises another issue: year-round schooling. LEWIS FROHLICH, PRINCIPAL, MIDWOOD HIGH SCHOOL: There's no conceptual reason why school shouldn't take place in July and August. We have our facilities available. The opportunity is there. Let's keep educating the youngsters.

HINOJOSA: Because don't forget, some kids actually do choose school instead of the beach.

KATHERINE KUCHARSKI, STUDENT: I wanted to come here to do a research program, because both my parents are chemists, and I figured I like science, I want to go into the field.

HINOJOSA: Only a freshman, and already volunteering for summer chemistry -- a teachers' delight.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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