For thousands of public school students in the East Cobb area, the 2020-2021 school year did not get off to a traditional start on August 17th. For many parents, this unusual start is worrisome. Working parents especially are finding it hard to balance supervision of online distance learning alongside their work commitments. Huntington Learning Center, a local leader in tutoring and test prep, is offering a wonderful solution: Study Hall Plus.
Frank and Montse Fabregas have been the co-owners of the East Cobb location of Huntington Learning Center for the last five years. The center has served the East Cobb community for over 25 years and touched the lives of more than 2,000 students, from kindergarten through the 12th grade. The Fabregases have a heart for serving the families of East Cobb, and their primary focus remains “helping students succeed in school and prepare them for future challenges.”
While tutoring will always remain the primary focus of Huntington Learning Center, Frank felt the need to pivot when the educational crisis occurred. “We wanted a way to help the community,” Frank stated. “Students have the right to learn in a controlled environment, and we have developed a specific program to help them navigate the start of the school year with Study Hall Plus.”
Study Hall Plus provides those parents who need to go into an office or must work from home uninterrupted an opportunity to place their student in an environment where they are supervised and assisted with their online distance learning platform. This service is being offered Monday – Friday from 8am-2pm for elementary school students and Noon-4pm for those students in middle school.
Each new student to Huntington is provided a personalized academic assessment to see what areas could use improvement. During the time at Study Hall Plus, the students work on their assigned school work through their online distance learning platform, as well as receive tutoring on the skills the student needs to improve upon: math, reading, writing. Each group of four similar aged students have an assigned teacher.
Limited spaces are available now for Study Hall Plus. Initially, Study Hall Plus groups were available only to current and former students at Huntington, however Frank and Montse saw a need in the community and decided to open a few new groups. Huntington has secured upgraded WIFI to handle the influx of students and to ensure they are easily able to connect to classes.
Besides the Study Hall Plus program, Huntington continues to offer its traditional tutoring services: teaching math, reading and writing skills to students K-12, based on an initial academic assessment. A curriculum is designed specifically for each student, depending on their weaknesses. For example, parents may only be concerned with a child’s Math grades, but the assessment might show that the child needs additional support with reading comprehension, a fact that might have gone unnoticed.
“I didn’t know how to help my daughter, but I know she wasn’t finishing her work for school,” shares East Cobb mom Perla. “I took her to Huntington Learning Center for an assessment, which showed she was struggling with reading comprehension, and it was impacting her in all subjects. After a short time at Huntington, her schoolwork improved tremendously, and her confidence increased. I’ve also seen this program benefit my middle school son and the high school students that I tutor in Spanish. Some of them are missing basic skills that can impact their overall educational success. Huntington helps build that foundation for learning.”
Huntington’s traditional tutoring services start after 2pm in the afternoons Monday-Friday as well as on Saturdays. With the new school schedules, middle school students are now able to schedule tutoring in the morning during the week from 8-11am, before their online distance learning begins at Noon.
Huntington is very serious about CDC guidelines during these times. The entire center is deep cleaned for two hours each morning prior to the arrival of teachers and students. To protect the health and safety of the students and staff, polycarbonate barriers are between all cubicles and tables. Staff members clean and disinfect commonly used surfaces, staff and student temperatures are taken, frequent hand washing is encouraged, gloves and masks are required, and social distancing is always practiced, when possible.
If your student needs help with their distance learning or if your student has experienced difficulty in math, reading, writing, study skills, or needs SAT or ACT prep contact Huntington Learning Center. They are conveniently located in the East Cobb Crossing shopping center, 4381 Roswell Road, Suite 240 in Marietta. Visit huntingtonhelps.com/center/east-cobb for more information or call 770-977-3112 for an appointment.
This article originally appeared in the September/October issue. You can access the digital edition HERE.
