A free weekly tutoring program in Florence is pairing Notre Dame Academy high schoolers with young English-learning children whose families worry about Kentucky's new reading retention law.

FIESTA Northern Kentucky, a nonprofit serving the region's Hispanic community, launched the program after parents told founder Theresa Cruz they feared their kindergarteners and first graders would be held back under House Bill 240. The state law, passed in 2025, requires all kindergarten and first-grade students to take a universal reading screener during the last 14 instructional days of the school year. Those who don't meet literacy standards may be retained.

The stakes are high for English-learning families.

Cruz said the law hits those households especially hard. She reached out to Sister Maria Francine Stacy, a Spanish teacher at Notre Dame Academy in Park Hills and a regular FIESTA volunteer, who organized the tutoring effort with another NDA teacher. The program started before end-of-year testing and has continued running through the summer.

Stacy told LINK nky, which first reported the program on Aug. 3, that she rallied her students as soon as Cruz called. Sophomore and junior Spanish students from the all-girls school now work weekly with rising first- and second-graders on reading and phonics.

During a recent session, LINK nky reported, a grinning soon-to-be second-grader fished through a lasagna tray filled with cardboard squares etched with words, sounding them out alongside his high school tutors.

One of the first parents to enroll her children has rising second- and third-graders in Kenton County Schools. She told LINK nky in Spanish that she has already seen her sons improve.

"I'm really grateful because, in reality, extra classes are really expensive," she said, in a translation provided by the outlet.

Frances Maier, a Notre Dame Academy junior in the program, also tutors adults in English at the Kenton County Library's Covington Branch. She said she wants to help families feel welcome and build community.

The need extends across the district. In the 2024-25 Kentucky Summative Assessment, only 34% of Kenton County elementary students scored proficient in reading, according to district results. Hispanic and Latino students make up about 6.9% of the district's 13,945-student enrollment.

Cruz said the program, though created for K-3 students with Notre Dame Academy volunteers, is open to all interested students and volunteers. Tutoring sessions meet weekly at FIESTA's location, 7530 US 42, Suite 8, in Florence. Families can find information at fiestanky.org.