Diamond Hill resident Sandra Leon, 38, dropped her daughter off at M.H. Moore Elementary School for Fort Worth ISD’s Summer Learning Program. Teachers at the school advised her to enroll her daughter, Leon said.
“She lost a lot from COVID-19. The lockdown affected her ability to interact with children her age,” Leon said in Spanish. “She doesn’t talk and she feels insecure about talking to people.”
Her daughter Ashley Leon, 8, spent half of her kindergarten and all of her first-grade year online, and she felt the effects of it in second grade, the mother said.
“She’s behind an entire year. My plan was to have her redo first grade because she did it all online,” Leon said. “Hopefully, the program can help her grab a book and read it in front of her classmates”
M.H. Moore Elementary School Principal Ricardo Alvarez guides parents on June 6 at the Summer Learning program kick off. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Students and parents walk into M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St., on June 6 at the Summer Learning program kick off. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
A parent kisses her daughter goodbye on June 6 at M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
M. H. Moore Elementary School Assistant Principal Katy Myers greets students on June 6 at M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St. Fort Worth ISD’s Summer Learning program has 14,000 registered students. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Parents and Summer Learning program students walk to M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Students arrive at Fort Worth ISD’s Summer Learning program on June 6 at M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
M.H. Moore Elementary School Principal Ricardo Alvarez greets students on June 6 at M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Fort Worth ISD’s Summer Learning program kicked off on June 6 at M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St. The program features activities from 8 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. including S.T.E.M. activities. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Summer Learning program students and parents wait in the cafeteria on June 6 at M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Fort Worth ISD District 9 Trustee Roxanne Martinez, left, greets Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Kent Scribner, right, on June 6. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
M.H. Moore Elementary School Principal Ricardo Alvarez hands out backpacks on June 6 at M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Kent Scribner greets students on June 6 at M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
M. H. Moore Elementary School Assistant Principal Katy Myers talks to parents on June 6 at M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St. Myers will be the Summer Learning program principal at M.H. Moore Elementary, the school with most enrolled students. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Kent Scribner speaks to Summer Learning program parents on June 6 at M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Students had access to Fort Worth ISD’s S.T.E.M. Mobile Innovation Lab on June 6 at M. H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)
Fort Worth ISD’s Summer Learning program hopes to help students retain knowledge and catch up from the effects of online learning. About 14,000 students are already enrolled throughout the school district, Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Kent Scribner said.
“It’s about accelerating our instruction, accelerating our learning, making up for the time that we lost and during the pandemic,” Scribner said. “Summer Learning is for our straight-A students. Summer Learning is for students who need a little bit more support.”
M.H. Moore Elementary School, 1809 N.E. 36th St., had the most enrolled students, 486, in the program, Fort Worth ISD Chief of Schools Jerry Moore said. The district’s Science Technology Engineering and Math trailers were open for students and Parent Partnerships gave away free books on June 6.
Summer Learning
8 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday
June 6 – 30
The district provided meals and transportation for students. Some schools feed into larger host campuses for convenience, Moore said. Every Fort Worth ISD school hosted summer classes last year, but classes were small and inefficient.
The school’s principal Ricardo Alvarez said, “This is phenomenal because we can give our students another month of instruction that they need.”
“During summertime, when students don’t read or they don’t do any math, they regress about 23% of what they learned the previous school year,” Alvarez said.
Cristian ArguetaSoto is the community engagement journalist at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him by email or via Twitter. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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