The Friday Night Lights are being turned back on.

The Community Schools program, which gives students a place for activities, games, enrichment opportunities and meals each Friday evening, is returning with the first installment tentatively scheduled to begin in March at Poughkeepsie Middle School.

“Parents have been asking for years now, ‘When are you going to bring back Friday Night Lights?’” Brown said. “Well, it’s back by popular demand. And we’re bringing it back in a big way.”

Students in grades five through nine are invited to sign up. Each installment will begin with dinner offered from 3:15-4:30 p.m., followed by two-and-a-half hours of fun facilitated by Community Schools staff, teachers aides and middle school social-emotional learning, or SEL, teachers. The gymnasium will be open and various games will be available. There will also be enrichment educational opportunities in various areas like art and music facilitated by community business organizations, similar to Community Schools’ Saturday Morning Lights and summer camp program.

The event will end each week at 7 p.m. to coincide with the county bus schedule to make returning home easy for participants.

Community Schools is seeking volunteers to help with various aspects supporting the activities, including those who may have a skill or area of expertise they can share with students. Any volunteer would need to undergo a background check; the district would reimburse volunteers for that expense.

The starting date will be announced in the coming weeks. To sign up, contact Brown at NaBrown@PoughkeepsieSchools.org

Friday Night Lights, a part of the larger Lights Initiative, provides PCSD students with an  opportunity to engage in extracurricular activities beyond the instructional day. It transformed into Saturday Morning Lights to provide greater opportunity for parent and caregiver involvement. Given its popularity and the Saturday Morning Lights popularity both will now become part of the Community School menu.

“We saw how much of an impact bringing community members and staff together to help children could make.” Brown added.