HOME WORKS! and Ritenour Schools were featured in the following article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on October 15, 2016.
Ritenour takes part in program for at-risk students
Ritenour has joined a small but growing number of area school districts participating in Home Works, in which at-risk students in a voluntary program receive home visits to discuss their performance, and teachers and students and families participate in special dinners at school twice a year.
About 60 “at risk” students at Ritenour Middle School are participating.
Under an agreement approved Thursday night between the school board and with the Clayton-based non-profit agency, founded in 2007, Home Works is financing half the $25 hourly cost of teachers volunteering for the program.
The visits are designed to improved students’ attendance, achievement and general attitudes. Parent involvement, when it is obtained to authorize and coordinate the teacher visits, is considered a key element in program success.
Ritenour officials are hopeful of extending the program to Hoech Middle School and then all of the district secondary schools soon, Superintendent Chris Kilbride said.