REDLANDS - Cuts to summer school may be bad for students, but not for business.

Tutoring agencies and services in Redlands said they have seen increased enrollment and interest since the Redlands Unified School District Board of Education eliminated elementary summer school in January and reduced its offerings for students at the middle and high school levels.

Many private companies are gearing their programs to fit the needs of students left out by the school cuts, they said.

"Our specific thing is kids who are more than a year behind, generally two to four years behind," said Eric Goddard, executive director of Mustard Seed Tutorial Center in Redlands. "This summer we're relaxing some of that. We're going to serve as many kids as we can get in the door."

Goddard said there is a greater need for tutoring now and going into the summer because of district cutbacks and because schools may no longer have the money or volunteer force to offer after school or extra curricular help for students.

"We talked to the (school board) about maybe trying to do something this summer to essentially double our services," Goddard said. "Normally during summer we serve 40-60 so we're going to try to build it to 100-120 this summer."

Mustard seed traditionally offered one session per day during the summer but is planning to offer a morning, early afternoon, and late session this year, Goddard said. There is enough demand to fill those classes and

more throughout the city.

"We've already had people say `we're coming, make sure you have room,"' said Director of Chartwell Learning Abilities Tamara Madai.

Sylvan Learning Center Director of Education Shannon Hill said her business has also seen a higher number of inquiries.

"(Parents) know the trimester is over and their students are behind and there is no summer school," Hill said. "The phone is ringing every day with parents asking what we have to offer."

Hill said she has witnessed a shift at her company since the district began cutting back. She said before, her customers were those who could pay for their children to take extra classes, but now they are seeing more and more parents scraping dollars together.

"Our shift has been to fill in because of the lack of summer school," Hill said. "They were more enrichment now necessity."

Madai said it is important to help kids who are lagging behind before it is too late. She said the schools do not have the funding to catch problems early and usually must wait until a student is two years behind to intervene.

"When they get behind they can't really benefit from the instruction in the classroom if they start falling behind they only get more behind," Madai said. "Sometimes parents wait too long and then it's too much of a burden on the student."

Director of One On One tutoring Stan Carter said summer is the best time for students to catch up or get ahead because everything slows down so they can get to the root of the problem then have time to improve.

"When you're trying to catch up in school, it's a little different than when you're trying to catch up, say, with your finances, because you're chasing a moving target," Carter said. "Everyone is neutral in summer."

Goddard said losing summer school will be "detrimental" to kids because it is such a good time for them to catch up.

Carter said parents can look at the cuts to summer school as a chance to get their children in one-on-one tutoring situations where they get the attention they need.

"Parents can take a bad situation and make it more positive than anything they ever expected," Carter said. "When we meet a student, typically, when they were going to go to summer school, they say `mom, this is so much different."'

Those in the tutoring business said having alternative study options for students is important because many students who have fallen behind are unsuccessful traditional teaching. Goddard said Mustard Seed tries to offer what the schools cannot during a time of budget cuts and regulation.

"Our seminar program is it's nearly all up and around," Goddard said. "We don't do very much desk work because we figure kids have already taken a swing at that and it didn't work the first time."

Goddard said much of his curriculum is based off board games or involves music and moving around.

Madai said Chartwell gears its services to the individual needs of students who want to get ahead or who have fallen behind. This type of instruction is important because students cannot get it in a class of 30 plus students and each student needs something different, she said.