Back-to-School Time: Tutors Say They’re Ready

School starts Wednesday for many schools in the Yakima area and that means tutors will get busy helping students. Jennifer Oberlander is the owner of the Kumon Math and Reading Center in Yakima in the Orchards at 72nd Avenue and Tieton Drive. She says parents concerned about the upcoming school year shouldn't wait to seek help until their kids have problems with their studies.

"We typically start helping people at 3 years old," Oberlander says, "so I have 3-year-olds up through 20-year-olds. But we help all ages. We just taught a 70-year-old man how to read. That's been a real fun thing to deal with as well."

Kumon and other learning centers will be busy this fall. Many parents in the Yakima School District are receiving letters informing them that their schools are failing. The assessment letters are a key requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind Law.

In the letter the district is offering free tutoring to parents interested in getting help for students.