SUMMARY

• The report was released in March, and highlighted Flex Academies in the “MCPS School Spotlight” section, detailing the partnership between Flex and Bells Mill Elementary. According to the report, “Flex Academies’ program coordinator at Bells Mill has a strong relationship with the school’s principal, staff and PTA, and ensures that the programs fit the school’s schedule and address students’ and parents’ needs.”
• Schools indicated our work has taken a significant burden off of them that they’d otherwise have if managing their own afterschool programs.
• The report also compared the availability of afterschool programing among elementary schools in the county based on percentages of students in each school receiving Free and Reduced-Price Meals (FARMs) and other data. Schools that had higher percentages of students receiving FARMS and higher rates of student mobility were more likely to have fewer afterschool programming options, a barrier that Flex Academies is working to eliminate.

INSIGHT

We’re extremely proud of the work we’re doing in Montgomery County, which is where we first got started and where we’ve developed the longest-running relationships with school districts and families. This sort of recognition is an honor for us, but it’s also a reminder of the work we can continue to do to get an even higher percentage of kids access to these kinds of afterschool programs.

Enrichment programs improve student outcomes and narrow achievement gaps, but there are still some barriers that exist to giving students those opportunities, and we remain committed to removing those obstacles.