As students return to in-person school, Out of School Time (OST) programs have been implemented to offer academic and enrichment programs to re-engage Jones students. 

Jones has received more financial support from CPS to provide teachers with a larger stipend for sponsoring OST programs.

“The Out of School Time funding that we received makes a big difference in what we can offer outside of regular school hours,” said Principal Dr. Paul J. Powers. “That encourages teachers and provides them with a little bit more additional financial support for sponsoring OST programs.”

This initiative has encouraged many teachers to sponsor more OST programs and has also marked the beginning of many new ways to support students.

“I think all students received information about all the different things offered and a lot of it is new,” said Dr. Powers. “A lot of them are things designed to really support, not just the transition to in-person learning, but students in terms of their interests as well as their academic needs.”

Many students have expressed that they are very excited to be able to get back to school in person this year.

“I think it’s important for people to re-engage in the life of the school…none of us really wanted students to come back to just work on schoolwork and then go back home,” said Dr. Powers.

Many students were excited to know that teachers will be getting more money to sponsor OST clubs.

“It’s expensive to live in Chicago and teachers need money,” said Etienne Laflamme ‘24. “Teachers deserve more money; they’re hard working.”

Other students were amenable to the fact  that teachers were getting more compensation for their hard work.

“If they’re putting in extra time besides their working time then I think that’s fair,” said Emma Robinson ‘25.

The information about OST was emailed out to all students, but, now that school is in-person, many students say they don’t even look at their emails.

“You could do things like flyers, posters around the school because that definitely catches people’s attention more,” said Robinson.

Even students who did see the email felt like there could be more productive ways to get students informed about OST programs.

“I saw an email about that but [I would suggest] definitely bringing it up in Aclab, maybe our counselors talking about it,” said Luke Sharba ‘24.

Since many students haven’t gotten the chance to learn about OST programs, participation in them is uncertain.

“I don’t really have a good understanding of what’s out there because I haven’t paid that much attention to updates but I’ll definitely look into it in the future,” said Sharba.

Dr. Powers agreed that further measures are needed to inform students on OST in order to get the best use out of these programs.

“We did the fireside chat last Thursday evening and then on Friday parents received an update of things that included some OST information, so hopefully parents are reading the emails, even if the students are not,” said Dr. Powers.

Overall, many are feeling optimistic about the new changes in OST and how it will grow in the future.

“If we are able to continue receiving these funds from CPS, then we will be able to continue along these lines,” said Dr. Powers. “We’ve got a lot of opportunities and this OST programming is going to make that possible.”

Many faculty members also believe that students need to put their own effort into getting involved with school and with their peers.

“[Students should] use the opportunity while [they’re] in school to engage with others, whether it’s through [their] schoolwork or clubs or organizations or sports or whatever it might be,” said Dr. Powers.