Panicking about cuts to DCPS aftercare at our elementary school

[Anonymous]

Wondering where all that Proving What's Possible Grant money came from? Wonder no more...

[Anonymous]

16:00 poster here. I would reach out to some schools that do have separate non-profit aftercare to get some ideas about payroll, insurance, and board set up. Janney has an separate aftercare, along with Murch and Lafayette.

Payroll is generally pretty easy (paycheks or ADP are good) but the insurance and board set-up/non-profit incorporation will require you to put down some money up-front, probably between 3-5K for the year. Set-up will also require a good chunk of time as well.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks again especially to 19:07 who I think understands our need to keep the existing Spanish-speaking aftercare staff at our dual language school.

[Anonymous]

fyi-DCPS is reducing the number of aftercae coordinators to 20. Schools will no longer have a dedicated coordinator. Coordinators will now have a cluster of schools to oversee. DCPS is awesome.

[Anonymous]

The sad thing is that my school has yet to tell parents ANYTHING about aftercare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After weeks of rumors, I finally learned this week what's happening to DCPS-funded aftercare (that is, the only aftercare) at our Title I school, Bancroft. It seems that only students below a certain income cutoff will be eligible for the Out of School Time program. This means that 50 to 100 or more families will not be eligible. Many have probably been paying for the DCPS aftercare (I know we have, and the coordinator says he's been diligent about collecting payments) so it's not a matter of money. (Although maybe the cost will go up--but that's not really the issue.)

This news is a huge, devastating shock coming 4 weeks before school starts. (Yes, there have been rumors for months, but I had the sense that Title I schools would be protected. At the Ward 1 schools meeting last month with Henderson, she said DCPS was trying to find funding to keep the program going at individual schools; the last thing I had heard from the school was that we would still have a program, but it would end at 6 instead of 6:30, which would not be a big deal.)

The assistant principal met with a few parents this week and they discussed what could be done to set up separate, non-OOST aftercare classrooms. The school can find the staff (they were with the current school-wide program) but isn't sure how to up payroll, insurance, etc. So there was discussion of seeing if OSST could handle the payroll or of finding an existing aftercare program to handle it.

So what does the school do now? We have an active PTA but running an aftercare is not something we've given much thought to until now. Are there existing aftercare providers who we could quickly bring in to oversee a new program?

Also are other elementary schools being hit with this now too? (I know there was a recent thread about Deal, but people seemed to think it wasn't a huge deal--older kids, not that many of them.)

I'm also very concerned because we will now have a school that segregates the kids by income during aftercare (like Oyster, some Hill schools)--too bad that Bancroft will now have separate programs for rich and poor kids, too.

Not sure why you feel entitled to low-cost aftercare?

[Anonymous]

I knew that when Fenty was kicked out and Gray and the pro-teacher union came in things that directly help the quality of life for kids and their families would be cut loose without a thought. This aftercare cut is a direct shot to the stomach of lower income working families--upper-middle class families like ours in ward 3 don't like this cut but we'll manage--I can't believe there is no outrage directed at Gray over this! Fenty would never have let something so egregious happen. How do you just say "sorry, screw you guys; you've got a month to figure something out here..."

Are you people who voting for Gray feeling this now? Old "phone it in" Aunt Joanne or whatever kept her teaching job by the skin of her teeth, but for years to come the kids and parents of DCPS are going to suffer for that--this aftercare thing is just one of the more visible ways. Believe me not ALL schools are losing aftercare. Just the ones with parents who were cheating the system and not paying or not paying enough. The population at Deal could have afforded to pony up $500 per advisory for aftercare--but the PTA was too lame to demand that people do it. Deal teachers are "sick of doing aftercare" so now. its. just. gone. Deal lost its great principal (Kim)and the school is slipping into the hands of "old school DC crap--lack of accountability, lack of responsiveness to parents requests and students needs--that apathy is palpable. I am so, so disappointed by the direction things are going. And our PTA needs to get a clue and hire a real company like the one at Janney and Murch so we can have meaningful study halls and clubs that are not run by bored entitled teachers--but rather active young people who are out there looking for jobs. (there are plenty of these types who are in local colleges studying for education degrees at AU and Catholic)--PTA Presidents please discover the internet and comb the sites!) I hope the new principal at Deal will have grown a pair over the summer and stand up to the teachers. After last year's performance, it doesn't seem likely. Grrrrrawr.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After weeks of rumors, I finally learned this week what's happening to DCPS-funded aftercare (that is, the only aftercare) at our Title I school, Bancroft. It seems that only students below a certain income cutoff will be eligible for the Out of School Time program. This means that 50 to 100 or more families will not be eligible. Many have probably been paying for the DCPS aftercare (I know we have, and the coordinator says he's been diligent about collecting payments) so it's not a matter of money. (Although maybe the cost will go up--but that's not really the issue.)

This news is a huge, devastating shock coming 4 weeks before school starts. (Yes, there have been rumors for months, but I had the sense that Title I schools would be protected. At the Ward 1 schools meeting last month with Henderson, she said DCPS was trying to find funding to keep the program going at individual schools; the last thing I had heard from the school was that we would still have a program, but it would end at 6 instead of 6:30, which would not be a big deal.)

The assistant principal met with a few parents this week and they discussed what could be done to set up separate, non-OOST aftercare classrooms. The school can find the staff (they were with the current school-wide program) but isn't sure how to up payroll, insurance, etc. So there was discussion of seeing if OSST could handle the payroll or of finding an existing aftercare program to handle it.

So what does the school do now? We have an active PTA but running an aftercare is not something we've given much thought to until now. Are there existing aftercare providers who we could quickly bring in to oversee a new program?

Also are other elementary schools being hit with this now too? (I know there was a recent thread about Deal, but people seemed to think it wasn't a huge deal--older kids, not that many of them.)

I'm also very concerned because we will now have a school that segregates the kids by income during aftercare (like Oyster, some Hill schools)--too bad that Bancroft will now have separate programs for rich and poor kids, too.

Not sure why you feel entitled to low-cost aftercare?

Some people love complaining. Hopefully their children will become more proactive once given the chance.

[Anonymous]

Not sure why you feel entitled to low-cost aftercare?

OP again. As I said, it's not a matter of feeling "entitled to low-cost aftercare" --we have been paying the full DCPS rate and are willing to pay more. It's a matter of DCPS cutting off the paying families and giving the school less than a month to set up a new program. Also, from what I understand the income cutoff will be different now and some families who qualifed for the subsidized DCPS program may no longer qualify. I do think poor working family class families deserve low cost aftercare.

[Anonymous]

What is the new income cut off? My title I is slow on giving out informantion but I am sure our aftercare would also be affected in the same manner as Bancroft. Trying to prepare myself.

[Anonymous]

OP again with good news --I learned this morning from our assistant principal that DCPS is allowing us to keep the program open to all families, after all. This somehow involves counting non-DCPS funding that Bancroft has for a couple of separate afterschool programs (eg Asian Lead). We should be able to cobble together enough spots for everyone who needs aftercare.

Apparently DCPS wasn't completely clear about the reconfigured program when they briefed the school last week; at another meeting this week with (presumably outraged) principals, they explained it better.

I hope this means other Title I schools will be able to keep the full program, too.

I now feel like my original post was a false alarm, but I was going on the info parents and the school had at the time. I do think this is a wakeup call that our school could lose the program in the future and we need to be ready for that. I will hold on to all the suggestions above about models at other schools and how to set up a program etc. Thanks everyone.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for raising the issue OP. It's a wakeup call for everyone that sometimes even principals have no idea what's happening.

Who in central was involved?

[Anonymous]

the principal at bancroft is out on maternity leave, so the ap is in charge.