Thanks to a multi-million dollar grant, Dearborn Public Schools is enlarging its Summer Discover Program to include students from kindergarten through ninth grade.
The free Summer Discovery Program will provide fun enrichment activities and additional math and literacy lessons for students, using an extension of the same curriculum students received during the school year. Field trips will also be included
This is Dearborn Schools third year offering Summer Discovery, and the program is expanding to include ninth grade. District students currently in kindergarten through ninth grade are now eligible to attend. Current Young 5s students may also participate.
The five-week Summer Discovery program is again funded through a nearly $8 million grant from the United Way for Southeastern Michigan and the Ballmer Group. Last year, 4,000 students took part in Summer Discovery.
Summer Discovery 2026 starts on Monday, June 29 and runs through Friday, July 31. There is no session on Friday, July 3. Parents are committing their students to attend at least 17 of the 24 days of the program. Free breakfast and lunch will again be available to participating students.
Sessions for elementary and middle school will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. The core program will take place from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for families not interested in breakfast, tutoring, or extended day enrichment.
Current eighth and ninth graders will attend a high school program from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and could earn high school credit.
Students can enroll in Summer Discovery through their schools. Depending on enrollment, students from different buildings will be consolidated into another nearby location. Students eligible for transportation during the school year are eligible for transportation to and from the summer academic program. If a student’s home school is not hosting Summer Discovery, then transportation will be provided from the home school to the assigned summer program school.
Parents are asked to contact the office at their child’s school to enroll their student for the summer program no later than April 20, 2026. Students may be able to register later, but will only be accepted if a space is available. Please see the enrollment form for more details.
A separate grant is providing a summer program at Cotter School for current district preschool students who will start kindergarten or Young 5s in August. Preference will be given to students enrolled in the free Great Start Readiness Program preschool. The preschool summer program is funded by a $100,000 grant from Wayne RESA and will run on the same dates as Summer Discovery.
Dearborn Public Schools traditionally offered some summer programs at most schools, but typically the programs were much smaller and focused on helping struggling students strengthen their academic skills. The Summer Discovery Program is intended to reach a much larger number of students and provide more instruction and more enrichment to any interested student.
“We are very grateful for this grant because it will allow us to again offer a great summer program to thousands of district students,” said Interim Superintendent Lamis Srour. “Instead of a summer slide academically, these students are going to have fun, educational experiences that strengthen their core skills.”
Summer Discovery flyer 2026 Arabic
