RPAC's student learning PODS 'the silver lining' for families during the COVID crisis

Foster's Daily Democrat - 2/26/2021

Feb. 26—ROCHESTER — As students adjusted to a new remote-learning environment last year, many parents found themselves in new situations of finding child care amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Leaders of the Rochester Performance and Arts Center felt the need to keep the center relevant to the community when it could not offer performances. That's when the PODS program where kids have a place to learn was born.

RPAC's earned income from ticket sales and program camps is down by 95% year-over-year, while its non-earned income from sponsorships is down 90%. COVID has forced arts organizations to adapt and RPAC is not an exception, according to Anthony Ejarque, executive director of RPAC.

"We had to refigure and retool ourselves, to find ways to keep ourselves relevant in a society where live performances are no longer accepted as safe," Ejarque said.

RPAC's PODS program came from that effort to help fill a gap in the community until theater can safely return.

At its core, the PODS program is a way for RPAC to offer in-person class time and interaction for school-age children while schools are in virtual and hybrid learning due to the pandemic. It also helps parents that have challenges with affording and finding child care during times when their children would normally be in school. It started last fall as a temporary solution for these challenges facing the Seacoast community.

"Toward the end of last summer, parents were sharing that they were unsure of what to do, many were headed back to work and they didn't have answers about when their kids were going back to school," said Jennifer "Jenry" Towle, director of education at RPAC. "In a way we were already almost set up for this kind of program, because of our space and the frequent programming we were already doing."

PODS was originally envisioned as a two-week program, structured similarly to RPAC's regular camps and lessons. But Ejarque said he quickly realized the need for a longer-term solution.

"It quickly became a daily, by request program," Ejarque said. "We would get a call or an email the day before saying 'I've got a crisis, can you help?' So we just had to become much more flexible and learn how to respond to folks that need help when they need it."

The PODS program is a half or whole day of structured and unstructured time, where students can complete homework assignments, their virtual learning, or whatever they choose to do.

"I think that the PODS program really has been the silver lining for quite a few families," Towle said.

The students start the day with socially distant exercises and are given time to work on what they need to in between snack and lunch breaks, and unstructured time to relax.

RPAC was recently given a suite of Google Chromebooks through a grant, so it can provide children with separate workspaces and computers.

"I found that help with homework has been great, but I think the added value of what the program can provide is a place of connection and team building," Towle said. "It's a chance to really flex those communication muscles ... allowing them to work on a project with somebody outside of a Zoom call. That's been wonderful to see."

Towle noted RPAC has been fostering positive partnerships with organizations and donors in the community to make the PODS program possible. Waste Management recently donated $5,000 to help RPAC continue the program.

"We feel pretty good that we've been able to help out a lot of folks — not only kids, but the parents who could lose a job if they don't show up to work because of difficulty finding child care," Ejarque said.

Even with Republican Gov. Chris Sununu's recent executive order to encourage schools to push for more in-person learning time, Towle said that the program may shift, but in the near term, it still has a purpose.

"We are still going to be available for the community," Towle said. "We'll continue to evolve and shift as the community needs. As students go back to more of a hybrid-learning environment, we might shift to more of an after-school program so we can still assist our families."

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