Kendall Park Learning center helps fill educational void
School has offered
various programs
for 14 years
By jennifer kohlhepp
Staff Writer

Mary Bailey, a teacher at the Learning Center (r), assists summer school students with an assignment.

SOUTH BRUNSWICK — This township businesswoman did it her way.

Audrey Doryumu created her own school to address flaws in the public education system.

Doryumu, director of the Kendall Park Learning Center, opened the independent educational institution at 3088 Route 27 in the Kendall Park section of South Brunswick in 1989 in order to provide all children with an equal opportunity to learn to the best of their ability.

"Prep schools cater to the elite and public schools cater to the middle," Doryumu said. "The kids at the bottom and the top are left out."

Using lessons in mathematics, Tracy Hartman, a teacher at the Kendall Park Learning Center, South Brunswick, prepares elementary school students for the new academic year.

Doryumu, who has taught at institutions such as Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and The Katharine Gibbs School, as well as various schools in the Bahamas and England, said she developed her holistic approach to teaching after seeing the best and the worst of education systems throughout the world.

"Any child who is given the opportunity can learn," Doryumu said. "Academic achievement and success are anchored in the self-esteem and confidence our curriculum provides."

The Kendall Park Learning Center offers individualized programs of learning to students in grades K-12. Programs include year-round home schooling, advanced and remedial help, SAT preparation, college counseling, Advanced Placement test instruction, summer academic sessions, and private tutoring.

"The school is different in that we have no problem placing children outside of their grade level," Assistant Director Anna Paronish, of Franklin, said. "We test the students to see what level they are at. We would have no problem placing a fifth-grader in a pre-algebra class if they are ready."

Along with its own team of specialists, who diagnose disabilities and implement individual education plans, the center employees 28 full-time teachers, according to Doryumu.

Paronish, who teaches elementary school students at the center, said the small class sizes enhance the students’ education.

"The small classes provide students with the opportunity to work on a one-to-one basis, and our director gives us the freedom to teach our students how we see best appropriate," Paronish said.

Prudence Marcus, who enrolled her two children, Tiler, 9, and Franzia, 7, in the summer school program said she is more than satisfied with the center.

"They provide a nice family atmosphere here," Marcus said. "If there are any signs that a child is slipping in his or her studies, the staff informs you right away."

Marcus said she particularly liked the progress reports she received from the staff.

"Not only do the reports include their grades, but also a reason for the grades from each teacher and suggestions as to how the grades might improve," Marcus said.

Doryumu said her center generates progress reports every week.

"If a red flag goes up, we want to immediately bring in the parents to have a conference with the teachers to fix what is going on," Doryumu said.

When asked what she liked best about the center, Franzia said, "I heard some people who graduated from here went on to schools like Harvard."

Doryumu said some of the center’s graduates went on to attend schools such as Princeton University, MIT, Duke and Northwestern.

"Our SAT prep program [helps stu­dents earn] an average score 1,380," Doryumu said. "Our students are also known for [earning] perfect scores in ei­ther verbal, or math, or both."

Paronish said the summer school program "gets the students ready to go back to school."

"Our students are ready to go when school starts, whereas teachers usually have to spend the first couple of months catchingstudents up to where they need to be," Paronish said.

The center offers a computer lab where students of all ages can perform research write papers, and develop their computer skills.

Just this summer the learning center added a complete biology/chemistry laboratory for high school students with the help of Dr. Pascal Meier, who teaches at the school.

"This year students will have the op­portunity to perform lab work at school while they complete their book work at home," Paronish said. "We will also use the computer for distance learning. Stu­dents can contact Dr. Meier through the Internet whenever they have a ques­tion."

Group tutoring sessions cost $45 per hour and one-on-one tutoring sessions are $65 per hour. Discounts are avail­able to those who enroll in the year-round program and to families who en­roll more than one student, according to Doryumu.

Registration is also ongoing for inter­national students studying English who plan to take the Test of Spoken English (TSE).

The Kendall Park Learning Center is an independent educational institution, fully accredited by the Commission on International and Transnational Accredi­tation.

For more information, including class schedules, call (732) 821-2111 or visit www.kplcteach.com.