Latest news with #Haywood
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Summer school aims to bridge the gap of lost learning during Helene
May 28—Students in Haywood County have a key opportunity this summer to recover valuable instructional time lost to Hurricane Helene and winter weather, with programs available to support learning and allow for retakes of end-of-grade and end-of-course tests. "I encourage parents to participate in this program. Take advantage of this," said Haywood County Schools Board Chairman Chuck Francis. The program can be particularly beneficial for students who struggled this year, given that they missed 22 days thanks to Helene and winter weather. While Haywood County Schools is sixth in the state in academic performance, up from seventh last year, Superintendent Dr. Trevor Putnam isn't sure if Haywood can hold onto its high rank due to the disruption in learning from Helene. "We are down 200 plus instructional hours. I still think we will be in the running, but it will be hard to give up 200 hours of instructional time and compete with schools that had a full year," Putnam said. "You can't create 200 hours out of thin air." However, "we are going to get as many instructional hours back in the summer as possible," Putnam said. But it's more than just those hours missed. "It's not just the 22 days, but you think about the crisis and turmoil the kids were in after that," said Assist. Superintendent Jill Barker. "It's not just the 22 days. It's been more than that. We're trying to mitigate that." School leaders were also faced with the challenge of piecing together multiple different funding sources to provide the programs, as some money came from the state and some came from the federal level. They also had to face the challenge of making sure they achieved all of the requirements attached to the money for each program. "There's different rules for transportation. There's different rules for food," Barker said. Some students will have the opportunity to re-test before the school year is out, while others will have the opportunity to re-test during the summer program. "Kids that need intensive intervention, we're encouraging them to come to the summer program and re-test at the end of June," Barker said. "It is to mitigate lost instruction for kids. ... We are just trying to have that opportunity for kids that want to come." Following are some of the programs offered. Read to Achieve Students in kindergarten through third grade can take part in the Read to Achieve program. Read to Achieve Program will include phonics instruction, writing and specific reading intervention strategies. Transportation and meals (breakfast and lunch) will be provided. The Read to Achieve program is funded with state dollars, while Haywood County Schools is chipping in from Title I funds to add kindergarteners to the program. Building Master Builders Students in fourth or fifth grade have the opportunity to take part in the Building Master Builders program, which focuses on math and reading with some sciences added in. "They'll be doing YouCubed summer math, which includes math and reading. They'll also have some enrichment activities that will vary by school," Haywood County Schools Title I Director Charly Inman said. Those enrichment activities include the Science Olympiad, drones and Legos. Summer YouCubed Middle schoolers can take part in the Summer YouCubed Math Program. The programs aimed at fourth through eighth graders are being funded by state dollars, coming from the School Extension Learning Recovery Program, a direct response to Helene's impact. "That money will definitely cover all of the teachers and bus drivers. We're also able to get a director for each school," Inman said. Students in eighth grade or below will receive a meal. There will also be buses for students. Credit recovery for high school High school students can participate in a credit-recovery program in order to avoid falling behind. The high school program will not offer food, as each session will be about two hours shorter than those for the younger grades. High schoolers will also not attend on Fridays. Participation is voluntary in each of the summer programs, so parents or guardians make the decision. Parent notifications regarding students who could benefit from the service have already gone out. The help sessions will last three to four weeks, starting June 10. Classes are taught by local teachers.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Crews working submerged vehicle on Wabash River in Gibson County
HENDERSON, Ky (WEHT) – Gibson County Dispatch has confirmed that crews are working the scene of a submerged vehicle on the Wabash River. Joe Haywood with Indiana DNR says it happened on W. 350 N and divers are enroute. Haywood also says the message string started at around 5:25 ET. He states the vehicle was unoccupied, and everyone has been accounted for. Eyewitness News will provide more information as it becomes available. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Student-parents face uncertain future as federal child care program wanes
Colleges and policymakers alike need students with children to finish their degrees and fill jobs, including jobs in high-demand fields such as nursing. Providing more on-campus child care is one way to help them do that, but d The number of colleges offering on-campus child care fell by 24 percent between 2012 and 2021, according to the left-leaning think tank New America. Now, the Trump administration's budget proposal calls for eliminating the only federal program that specifically helps student-parents with child care. Advertisement 'We've seen many parenting students stop out of their degrees because they did not have consistent, adequate, accessible, high-quality child care,' said Brittani Williams, director of advocacy, policy and research at the nonprofit Generation Hope, who was a student-parent herself. 'Even from my own personal experience, the ability to have child care was absolutely a centering pillar' for students to be able to complete degrees. Advertisement At Southern Connecticut State's drop-in child care center, teacher assistant Kayleigh Morgan greets Cai-Lonni Haywood and her son. Having good child care for her son has enabled Haywood to return to college, where she is pursuing a social work degree. Yunuen Bonaparte for The Hechinger Report The federal program is called CCAMPIS. Pronounced 'see-campus,' it stands for Child Care Access Means Parents in School. Created in 1998, CCAMPIS provides grants to colleges to create on-campus child care centers, subsidize access for low-income students and partner with nearby child care facilities. Students who take part in CCAMPIS have higher persistence rates than students overall, according to the federal government's own research. CCAMPIS support allowed Haywood to go back to college. She started attending her current institution, Southern Connecticut State University, because she heard about the drop-in child care center the institution had opened with the help of a CCAMPIS grant in 2023. The $159,000 the university gets annually from CCAMPIS not only helped launch the child care center, its director said; it subsidizes access for lower-income students like Haywood, who is now working toward becoming a social worker. She pays only about $1 a day and can drop her son off for three-and-a-half-hour blocks when she has class or other commitments. 'I am two semesters away from graduating, which I never thought I would be able to do having a baby and deciding I wanted to go back to school,' she said. 'If Southern didn't have this child care program, I wouldn't be able to do it.' Now, as with many federal government initiatives, the fate of CCAMPIS is uncertain. President Donald Trump's administration has effectively halved the number of employees at the Department of Education, which oversees th program, and issued an executive order to dismantle the agency. The department didn't respond to questions for this story. Advertisement The number of institutions receiving CCAMPIS money declined from 327 in 2021 to 264 in 2023, federal data show. They received an average of $317,108. Many colleges have CCAMPIS waitlists, and higher education advocates had been hoping that funding for the program would be increased from $75 million a year to $500 million. But in the current environment, they're not optimistic. For now, they say, they hope to simply prevent its outright elimination. 'You play the long game in federal policy,' said Edward Conroy, a senior policy manager at New America. 'Protecting the program's existence is likely to be where we're at in the near future.' Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have taken an interest in the program. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, and Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Massachusetts, introduced a bill last fall that would have increased funding for CCAMPIS to $500 million and raised the maximum grant award to $2 million. Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, had similarly introduced a bill that would add flexibility to the program. 'Not only is there bipartisan support in funding the program, but also in actually changing it to make it better,' said Richard Davis Jr., a policy analyst at New America. This support from both the left and right gives advocates some optimism that CCAMPIS will survive the administration's spending cuts. 'We would hope that Congress protects this program and funds this program so that student-parents can have the support they need,' said Justin Nalley, a senior policy analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which focuses on Black Americans. Helping adult students get degrees is increasingly a focus of politicians and colleges. Advertisement Parents who use their degrees to get better jobs pay more in taxes and are less likely to need government assistance, research shows. Many states now have Many universities are facing enrollment challenges among traditional-aged students, brought on by demographic changes and questions about the return on the investment in tuition. In response, they're looking to bring in more adult students. But older students are more likely to have kids in tow. 'Schools are recognizing the need to serve and recruit and retain and support this new learner,' said Jody Gordon, a consultant at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers who works with colleges on enrollment. Some states are focusing more on student-parents. New laws in California require public colleges to collect data on these students, give them priority registration and consider child care expenses in financial aid calculations. Illinois and Texas have passed bills requiring the collection of data about and provision of resources to students with children. 'A lot of students are not just a student anymore,' said AJ Johnson, policy director at California Competes. 'We need this type of information to start to innovate and design for our modern students and their needs, which include parenting and working.' But making child care affordable and accessible is still one of the most critical ways to help student-parents finish their degrees. Students who take part in CCAMPIS have higher persistence rates than students overall, according to the federal government's own research. On-campus child care for student-parents offers a payback to taxpayers, even if it's expensive to provide, a study by the Urban Institute found. Researchers concluded that a subsidized program in Virginia would lead to 8,700 more graduates through 2035 and offer a 24 percent return on every dollar spent. That's before looking at benefits down the line, such as making it more likely that the children of student-parents will pursue a higher education themselves once they've grown up. Advertisement 'The fact that it paid for itself at all was honestly a little bit surprising because child care can be so costly,' said Theresa Anderson, a research associate at the Urban Institute and coauthor of the analysis. 'But that's because it's really effective and important.' At Southern Connecticut State, the existing CCAMPIS grant expires at the end of September. The center is helping about 66 parenting students this semester, and serves infants up to 12-year-olds. 'We realized that we were always supporting parenting students, but the level of our support just was not enough,' said Michele Vancour, who directs the center. Opening the center 'was a great opportunity for us to demonstrate that there was a significant need and to find ways to make this part of the fabric of who we are.' The university is looking for ways to maintain services after the grant expires, Vancour said. She said she speaks regularly with administrators at other institutions that are part of CCAMPIS. 'The uncertainty, not knowing what to expect next, has been the most stressful for people,' she said. Haywood said she wishes she could use the university's child care center even more than she does now. After working jobs at Lowe's and Stop & Shop, she plans to finish her social work degree and then pursue a master's degree. By the time she starts, Landin will be 5, and old enough to attend evening sessions at the drop-in center where he's already a regular. Advertisement 'It's been a year here now and he doesn't even say bye to me,' she said. 'He just walks in and goes and lives his best life.' This story was produced by , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our . Listen to our .
Miami Herald
16-05-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
A federal program helped student-parents thrive. Now it's on life support
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - When Cai-Lonni Haywood left the Navy, she wanted to go back to school to become a nurse. She tried a for-profit college, but it shut down suddenly. So she started attending community college in her hometown of New Haven, Connecticut. Soon something more important came up: a son, Landin. Once Haywood, now 31, gave birth, she needed child care to attend class. When she couldn't find any that she could afford, she dropped out. It's a story as common as it is little known across American higher education. More than 1 in 5 American undergraduates is a parent. For many of them, kids come first and school falls by the wayside. Colleges and policymakers alike need students with children to finish their degrees and fill jobs, including jobs in high-demand fields such as nursing. Providing more on-campus child care is one way to help them do that, but despite a growing recognition of the challenges faced by students with children, the opposite is happening. The number of colleges offering on-campus child care fell by 24 percent between 2012 and 2021, according to the left-leaning think tank New America. Now, the Trump administration's budget proposal calls for eliminating the only federal program that specifically helps student-parents with child care. Related: Interested in innovations in higher education? Subscribe to our free biweekly higher education newsletter. "We've seen many parenting students stop out of their degrees because they did not have consistent, adequate, accessible, high-quality child care," said Brittani Williams, director of advocacy, policy and research at the nonprofit Generation Hope, who was a student-parent herself. "Even from my own personal experience, the ability to have child care was absolutely a centering pillar" for students to be able to complete degrees. The federal program is called CCAMPIS. Pronounced "see-campus," it stands for Child Care Access Means Parents in School. Created in 1998, CCAMPIS provides grants to colleges to create on-campus child care centers, subsidize access for low-income students and partner with nearby child care facilities. Students who take part in CCAMPIS have higher persistence rates than students overall, according to the federal government's own research. CCAMPIS support allowed Haywood to go back to college. She started attending her current institution, Southern Connecticut State University, because she heard about the drop-in child care center the institution had opened with the help of a CCAMPIS grant in 2023. Related: See which colleges and universities offer child care The $159,000 the university gets annually from CCAMPIS not only helped launch the child care center, its director said; it subsidizes access for lower-income students like Haywood, who is now working toward becoming a social worker. She pays only about $1 a day and can drop her son off for three-and-a-half-hour blocks when she has class or other commitments. "I am two semesters away from graduating, which I never thought I would be able to do having a baby and deciding I wanted to go back to school," she said. "If Southern didn't have this child care program, I wouldn't be able to do it." Now, as with many federal government initiatives, the fate of CCAMPIS is uncertain. President Donald Trump's administration has effectively halved the number of employees at the Department of Education, which oversees the program, and issued an executive order to dismantle the agency. The department didn't respond to questions for this story. The number of institutions receiving CCAMPIS money declined from 327 in 2021 to 264 in 2023, federal data show. They received an average of $317,108. Many colleges have CCAMPIS waitlists, and higher education advocates had been hoping that funding for the program would be increased from $75 million a year to $500 million. But in the current environment, they're not optimistic. For now, they say, they hope to simply prevent its outright elimination. "You play the long game in federal policy," said Edward Conroy, a senior policy manager at New America. "Protecting the program's existence is likely to be where we're at in the near future." Related:Parents are quitting jobs, passing on raises - to qualify for child care Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have taken an interest in the program. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, and Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Massachusetts, introduced a bill last fall that would have increased funding for CCAMPIS to $500 million and raised the maximum grant award to $2 million. Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, had similarly introduced a bill that would add flexibility to the program. "Not only is there bipartisan support in funding the program, but also in actually changing it to make it better," said Richard Davis Jr., a policy analyst at New America. This support from both the left and right gives advocates some optimism that CCAMPIS will survive the administration's spending cuts. "We would hope that Congress protects this program and funds this program so that student-parents can have the support they need," said Justin Nalley, a senior policy analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which focuses on Black Americans. Helping adult students get degrees is increasingly a focus of politicians and colleges. Parents who use their degrees to get better jobs pay more in taxes and are less likely to need government assistance, research shows. Many states now have educational attainment goals that parenting students who graduate can help them meet. Many universities are facing enrollment challenges among traditional-aged students, brought on by demographic changes and questions about the return on the investment in tuition. In response, they're looking to bring in more adult students. But older students are more likely to have kids in tow. Related: As colleges lose enrollment, some turn to one market that's growing: Hispanic students "Schools are recognizing the need to serve and recruit and retain and support this new learner," said Jody Gordon, a consultant at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers who works with colleges on enrollment. Some states are focusing more on student-parents. New laws in California require public colleges to collect data on these students, give them priority registration and consider child care expenses in financial aid calculations. Illinois and Texas have passed bills requiring the collection of data about and provision of resources to students with children. "A lot of students are not just a student anymore," said AJ Johnson, policy director at California Competes. "We need this type of information to start to innovate and design for our modern students and their needs, which include parenting and working." But making child care affordable and accessible is still one of the most critical ways to help student-parents finish their degrees. Students who take part in CCAMPIS have higher persistence rates than students overall, according to the federal government's own research. On-campus child care for student-parents offers a payback to taxpayers, even if it's expensive to provide, a study by the Urban Institute found. Researchers concluded that a subsidized program in Virginia would lead to 8,700 more graduates through 2035 and offer a 24 percent return on every dollar spent. That's before looking at benefits down the line, such as making it more likely that the children of student-parents will pursue a higher education themselves once they've grown up. Related: Universities and colleges that need to fill seats start offering a helping hand to student-parents "The fact that it paid for itself at all was honestly a little bit surprising because child care can be so costly," said Theresa Anderson, a research associate at the Urban Institute and coauthor of the analysis. "But that's because it's really effective and important." At Southern Connecticut State, the existing CCAMPIS grant expires at the end of September. The center is helping about 66 parenting students this semester, and serves infants up to 12-year-olds. "We realized that we were always supporting parenting students, but the level of our support just was not enough," said Michele Vancour, who directs the center. Opening the center "was a great opportunity for us to demonstrate that there was a significant need and to find ways to make this part of the fabric of who we are." The university is looking for ways to maintain services after the grant expires, Vancour said. She said she speaks regularly with administrators at other institutions that are part of CCAMPIS. "The uncertainty, not knowing what to expect next, has been the most stressful for people," she said. Haywood said she wishes she could use the university's child care center even more than she does now. After working jobs at Lowe's and Stop & Shop, she plans to finish her social work degree and then pursue a master's degree. By the time she starts, Landin will be 5, and old enough to attend evening sessions at the drop-in center where he's already a regular. "It's been a year here now and he doesn't even say bye to me," she said. "He just walks in and goes and lives his best life." Contact editor Jon Marcus at 212-678-7556 or jmarcus@ This story about student-parents was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our higher education newsletter. Listen to our higher education podcast. The post A federal program helped student-parents thrive. Now it's on life support appeared first on The Hechinger Report.
Zawya
01-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Young South Africans prefer renting over buying as the rental market soars
Right now, the rental market is heating up in major centres, with young South Africans no longer measuring their success in terms of property-title deeds but rather in steps up the social and corporate ladders. Like young professionals the world over, new comers to real estate are looking for convenience, amenities and flexibility, rather than first-time home ownership. As a result, demand for rentals is growing and the market is at its busiest since 2018, according to Murray Haywood, Tyson Properties' director for Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal and national group rental manager. 'We are seeing more and more people choosing to rent and not buy. The factors influencing this extend beyond the daunting costs of running a house or the consistent expense of maintenance. The younger generation wants to be fluid and follow careers rather than be bogged down by bricks and mortar. They put spare funds into financial investments which are more liquid,' he says. Unsurprisingly, Gauteng, South Africa's economic hub and repository of jobs in corporates, finance and technology, is the most vibrant rental market. Suburbs such as Sandton and Rosebank with trendy apartments, proximity to top schools, shopping centres and good transport links are the major drawcards. 'The 'rental' asset class is growing nationally. Agencies like Tyson Properties, are making a concerted effort to set up rental books and establish rental portfolios within their franchise networks. "We use credible entities establishing easy and up to date lease agreements, do thorough background credit checks and are now consistently training our agents so that they know what to look for when renting a property and what questions to ask,' Haywood continues. Although popular for different reasons - natural beauty, sophisticated lifestyle, tourism and expanding tech and creative sectors – Cape Town and Gauteng are both in high demand for rental housing. Tyson Properties' rental manager in Cape Town, Southern Suburbs, Stephen Adamo, notes that areas such as Bishopscourt, Constantia and Newlands (all southern suburbs) are drawing attention from renters. 'The advantages of renting in these areas vary. Often, we have clients who are moving from upcountry or relocating to South Africa for the first time from another country. Renting allows these clients to understand the areas better before settling down and buying a property. 'For those looking to rent larger properties, renting a R15m plus property tends to work out less expensive than purchasing. Here, rental allows more flexibility, especially if you need to be closer to educational institutions, work, beaches or your individual lifestyle choices,' he says. Even among locals, he points out that the rental market in Cape Town and the Southern Suburbs is also growing for a myriad reasons – including access to basic services such as electricity, water and transport, security, privacy and proximity to top schools and places of work. 'There are also still a few properties in the Southern Suburbs that provide clients with an abundance of space without compromising on location or accessibility. The market is growing year on year with an 8 to 10% escalation in rentals per year,' Adamo adds. Those on the lookout for properties to rent can expect increased demand for high-end apartments in city centres as well as very competitive rental prices in desirable areas. Decisions need to be made quickly due to high demand and having the right paperwork on hand will get you over the line ahead of others. 10 tips for renters Do your research – Understand the rental market in your chosen area as well as each particular neighbourhood. Make sure that you know average pricing and what is expected for extra amenities and services. Prep the paperwork – Get pre-approved by supplying the agent with the necessary supporting documentation: payslips, ID, proof of residence and bank statements which are used in the vetting process. Check the lease agreement and make sure that all terms are clear before signing. Inspect the property – Identify maintenance issues and document them ahead of signing up or moving in. Complete a move in inspection report or 'snag list' of items that need to be rectified by the landlord. If repairs are unlikely, document any issues so that, when exiting, you are not liable for damages. Know your rights and responsibilities – Familiarise yourself with the Rental Housing Act. Affordability is key, so know your budget – Renting a property not only includes the rental itself but also running costs, utilities, deposits and other fees. Make sure you can meet upfront costs – Your deposit, equivalent to a month's rental, needs to be paid upfront. You may also need to cover application and administration fees, as well as moving costs. Keep everything in writing – Keep records of agreements with the landlord as well as all correspondence. Understand maintenance responsibilities – Know what falls on you versus what the landlord is responsible for. Be a good tenant – Pay your rent on time and follow building rules. Have a backup plan – In case of unexpected expenses or job changes. All rights reserved. © 2022. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
