Students for Education to change focus due to clashes with school policy

Students for Education, a club dedicated to promoting literacy, is shifting its focus away from tutoring children at Coburn Safe Place towards more of a fundraising role due to conflicts with school policy.

“Policy changes this year made it harder for members to go down to Coburn in private vehicles without a teacher or sponsor present,” Ivy Yan, club president and junior, said. “There were too many liabilities for members to go downtown and help out without a teacher there.”

The club will deemphasize tutoring and focus more on raising money to help the children at Coburn. However, members are still encouraged to work with and tutor the kids, only now they will no longer be affiliated with the club or the school.

“We will continue to educate the children and work with Schools on Wheels, but the club will do more on the fundraising side of things,” Yan said. “Members are encouraged to contact Coburn on their own and arrange times when they could help, as the club can no longer perform that function.”

There will be a meeting in a couple weeks to inform members about the changes to the club, but no date has been scheduled as of yet.

“I leave most of the organization and scheduling to the students,” sponsor Sherri Pankratz said.

“The meeting will probably be before the end of October,” Yan said. “We will discuss the new changes and then see if anybody has any fundraising ideas.” By Henry Zhu <hzhu@hilite.org>