The efficacy of after-school programs should not be lost on the General Assembly. In an education policy speech, House Speaker Terry Spence, a Republican candidate for governor, talked of opening schools for longer periods. It's a sound idea. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, however. For several years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the old Wilmington Public Schools operated a widespread community school program that kept buildings open into the evening and all summer.
Schools are the most underused public buildings anywhere.
Legislators interested in curbing anti-social behavior, raising student achievement and using schools efficiently ought to explore a statewide pilot project of community schools.