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Church Offers Summer School For Students In Danger Of Being Held Back

By Mike DeNardo

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Budget cuts have forced the elimination of most district-run summer school classes this year. But one Philadelphia church is stepping in to help.

Twenty students from the McCall, Meredith and Nebinger elementary schools gather at Mother Bethel AME church at 6th and Pine, for summer classes.

Nebinger Principal Ralph Burnley says, without official district summer school, the church programs that just might keep these students from being left back.

"It's definitely a need that is being fulfilled. Because a bunch of our parents would not have been able to provide the support that the kids need."

Burnley says two certified teachers are running the church program.

"We wouldn't have the finances to keep the school open. We wouldn't have the finances to have the teachers come in."

Mother Bethel pastor, the Reverend Doctor Mark Tyler says the church helped to raise $6,000 for the summer program.

"Richard Allen opened these doors in the late 1700's, actually, in our very first building to make sure the children in the neighborhood were educated. So, this is just something that's in our DNA."

Burnley believes the district would support the principals' decision to promote students based on summer school performance at church.

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