COCHISE COUNTY — School leaders and officials in Bisbee and Sierra Vista unified school districts are reflecting on the importance of their summer remediation programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want to make sure that they are definitely prepared for success in the next grade,” said Lowell Jr. High School Principal Laura Miller. “We were a little bit worried, of course, with going back and forth between remote and hybrid, back again to remote, back to hybrid, and then back to face-to-face, that we had a couple of kids who were falling through the cracks here.

“We found that having a face-to-face summer school, that will help immensely with transition to the next grade level.”

For information, check out our article, podcast episode on the Daily Chirp and our video feature on our YouTube Channel.

Cochise County Superintendent Jacqui Clay welcomed a new accommodation school, the New Crossroads Academy, into the county with an open house for the education center on Friday, June 25.

“We named it ‘New Crossroads’ because the thing is, when you get to a point, whether that’s a jail detention center or you dropped-out or whatever that situation is, when you meet us at the school, you have a choice: you could continue going the way you are, or you have the opportunity to change,” said Clay.

Clay continued, “A lot of people drop-off the map because they don’t feel significant anymore ... Anybody will drop-off the map because they don’t have a purpose. Once you have a purpose, it equals passion ... Education is supposed to be the one that helps you find what that is, then you go with it.”

How do you think this school will help the community? Share your thoughts in the comments below. More information in today's feature.