Riverview considers hosting 48 11-year-olds from around world

Riverview School Board appears to favor hosting 48 11-year-olds from around the world next summer.

Children's International Summer Villages underwrites the group. For the past 15 years, its Pittsburgh chapter used Upper St. Clair High School for the four-week program. Children's International has 160 chapters worldwide.

Planner Diane Redington of Pittsburgh said that the group asked Riverview School District to sponsor next year's program partly because three children from the Tenth Street Elementary School in Oakmont are in Germany this summer with Children's International.

"I think this program is wonderful," said board member and education committee chairwoman Mary Kay Stein. "An 11-year-old is cognitively ready to understand other cultures and they have not formed prejudices."

Redington asked for permission to use the high school facilities for four consecutive weeks next summer.

They would need the gym to act as a makeshift dorm and classrooms, the school's restrooms and cafeteria. The cafeteria staff would be paid for by Children's International, and the organization would provide equipment such as cots.

The 11-year-olds in the program spend the first week getting to know each other. International dinner nights are a favorite part of the program. The children also have weekend home stays with volunteer families in the community.

Children's International budgeted $24,000 for the 2005 summer program at Riverview. This covers insurance, food that is not donated and some travel expenses. A fee of $1,500 to $2,000 is assumed by the parent of each child. Most of that cost is travel expenses.

Board members will discuss the request and get back to Redington.

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