February 11, 2008
By SUE RYAN
News staff writer

When school ended Wednesday in Odell, many children stayed inside Mid Valley Elementary School rather than leave.

While wintry gray skies hovered outside, the school was full of color and sound indoors. Three days a week, schoolchildren stay for classes known as Project PM.

Almost every school in Hood River County has one of these programs but they differ according to their funding source.

Mid Valley belongs to the upper valley set, which includes it and Parkdale Elementary, Pine Grove Elementary and Wy’east Middle School.

Parkdale Principal Kim Vogel coordinates Project PM for the district.

“The need is there for a safe place after school that is academically enriching and supportive,” she said.

The program offers nine hours a week, but how the program delivers instruction varies among schools. Each student in Project PM receives three hours of instruction in math and three in reading while during the remainder others explore arts or science.

This quarter at Mid Valley, students are studying the basics but also learning about art and Mexican dancing.

Teacher Peggy Dills Kelter held the rapt attention of 20 or so first-graders perched on the carpet in front of her. She folded a piece of paper in half and demonstrated how to “drive the scissors” through the paper to create a wavy line.

Kendra Wilkins looked up for help as Carlos Trejo began to cut his cardboard. The children traced around those shapes to create designs onto another paper that they painted for the final step.

Feet pounded the old gym floor upstairs at the school as instructor Sandy Salazar started and stopped music on a boom box to give directions.

“You keep creeping closer together,” she said. “When you are in costume, the girls will have huge skirts so you need to learn to move far enough apart to have space to hold those up.”

Vogel said classes such as these broaden their knowledge by exposing them to enriching activities. Federal monies from the 21st Century Learning Communities grant has paid for the upper valley Project PM for this year and two more. Vogel said what has also helped has been partnerships with other groups and agencies such as the OSU Extension Service.

In Odell on Wednesday just down the hall from the younger set coloring hearts was Hood River County 4-H assistant Jesus Acosta. He showed third- and fourth-graders how to carve a block print and create greeting cards.

“Either take out what you don’t want or leave the background and cut out the object,” he said.

Kenia Ramirez and Nina Magana began flipping through pages of designs to select one for their stamps. The two girls’ interest reflects the program’s popularity through its full registration. The upper valley Project PM currently serves 350-375 students.

“We have waiting lists everywhere — if we had enough funding, we could take them in,” Vogel said.

While all of the district’s programs have proven popular, Vogel said the Project PM classes for the lower valley will end with this school year.

Those programs at Hood River Middle School, May Street Elementary, Westside Elementary School and Cascade Locks were paid for with a grant from Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital. While the district tried to find new funding to renew the programs, the schools didn’t meet the criteria.

“Because the 21st Century grant had the requirement of schools having a population with greater than 70 percent of its students on free or reduced price lunches, the lower valley schools weren’t able to qualify for those funds,” Vogel said.

She said unfortunately that includes such successful programs as the Homework Club at Hood River Middle School and a program at Westside targeting at-risk fifth-graders.