Help, why do some after school programs sucks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You haven't even started at this school yet.

Busting in and trying to change a plan that may well meet the needs of most of the parents is ... a little much.

Talk to the person in charge. Ask questions. Listen to the answers. Perhaps the things you want have been tried in the past and failed. Or perhaps the people in charge of the vendor will be willing to pursue changes.

Providing extra services doesn't hurt the services they are already providing.

How do you know? It could well increase the prices for everyone.

How do we know if we don't try? There different type of families, not everyone works 9-5 and most aftercare programs cater to that, make the part time people pay more of whatever but don't just dismiss it because you don't need it!

[Anonymous]

Our school's is set up just like yours. It does have a drop in option, though. I've never used it, so not sure the specifics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because you get what you pay for. Mann is more than $500/month. Janney parents run the aftercare parents and thus keep overhead costs low. Also, Janney is able to tap into the AU student community and so can be more flexible in scaling up and down on a moment's notice.

+1.

Janney is such an unusual situation. Besides being close to AU, I've noticed Janney is full of two-earner families where one parent works in academia or a think tank or something like that. That parent wants part-time aftercare (since those jobs are often flexible) and is also usually super-high-education and super invested in the quality of the aftercare program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because you get what you pay for. Mann is more than $500/month. Janney parents run the aftercare parents and thus keep overhead costs low. Also, Janney is able to tap into the AU student community and so can be more flexible in scaling up and down on a moment's notice.

+1.

Janney is such an unusual situation. Besides being close to AU, I've noticed Janney is full of two-earner families where one parent works in academia or a think tank or something like that. That parent wants part-time aftercare (since those jobs are often flexible) and is also usually super-high-education and super invested in the quality of the aftercare program.

I’m assuming the OP is referring to Shepherd. There are similar household structures in Shepherd Park. OP, I would wager as the inbound % continues to increase and the demand for flexibility increases, there would be changes. I would talk about it to the new principal.

[Anonymous]

I just wish I could get a spot in my school's aftercare program; it was full by the time we were offered a seat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because you get what you pay for. Mann is more than $500/month. Janney parents run the aftercare parents and thus keep overhead costs low. Also, Janney is able to tap into the AU student community and so can be more flexible in scaling up and down on a moment's notice.

+1.

Janney is such an unusual situation. Besides being close to AU, I've noticed Janney is full of two-earner families where one parent works in academia or a think tank or something like that. That parent wants part-time aftercare (since those jobs are often flexible) and is also usually super-high-education and super invested in the quality of the aftercare program.

I’m assuming the OP is referring to Shepherd. There are similar household structures in Shepherd Park. OP, I would wager as the inbound % continues to increase and the demand for flexibility increases, there would be changes. I would talk about it to the new principal.

I'm the PP that asked what school, since this was also my assumption. I'm not sure there will be as much demand at Shepherd? I mean, as the IB % grows, sure the number of similar professional families will grow (I type this on my telework day). But, it's a much smaller school than Janney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because you get what you pay for. Mann is more than $500/month. Janney parents run the aftercare parents and thus keep overhead costs low. Also, Janney is able to tap into the AU student community and so can be more flexible in scaling up and down on a moment's notice.

+1.

Janney is such an unusual situation. Besides being close to AU, I've noticed Janney is full of two-earner families where one parent works in academia or a think tank or something like that. That parent wants part-time aftercare (since those jobs are often flexible) and is also usually super-high-education and super invested in the quality of the aftercare program.

Janey is not that unique, lot of schools in DC offer that flexibility. We are at Lafayette (But it is parent run) and have a lot of flexibility. Our previous school used Springboad for aftercare, also flexible. A friend of DC at Maury (run privately) do aftercare only twice/week.

[Anonymous]

Murch has two aftercare programs (both independent of the school), and both offer flexibility in terms of being able to sign up for 1-5 days a week, although you have to set the days in advance (you can't do Wednesday one week and Tuesday another). Extended care (6-6:30) is a separate fee. And before care is a flat fee for the month. So that's definitely possible, but I suppose it assumes that there is enough demand that they can fill the slots that way.

[Anonymous]

How does Watkins do it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does Watkins do it?

Doesn't Watkins have 3 separate providers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because you get what you pay for. Mann is more than $500/month. Janney parents run the aftercare parents and thus keep overhead costs low. Also, Janney is able to tap into the AU student community and so can be more flexible in scaling up and down on a moment's notice.

+1.

Janney is such an unusual situation. Besides being close to AU, I've noticed Janney is full of two-earner families where one parent works in academia or a think tank or something like that. That parent wants part-time aftercare (since those jobs are often flexible) and is also usually super-high-education and super invested in the quality of the aftercare program.

Janey is not that unique, lot of schools in DC offer that flexibility. We are at Lafayette (But it is parent run) and have a lot of flexibility. Our previous school used Springboad for aftercare, also flexible. A friend of DC at Maury (run privately) do aftercare only twice/week.

Lafayette is not parent run- It's a private business (CLS) that supplies aftercare to Murch and other schools as well. It allows only a few days a week, but not drop ins. You decide your year-long schedule up front.

Yes, Janney is unique.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You haven't even started at this school yet.

Busting in and trying to change a plan that may well meet the needs of most of the parents is ... a little much.

Talk to the person in charge. Ask questions. Listen to the answers. Perhaps the things you want have been tried in the past and failed. Or perhaps the people in charge of the vendor will be willing to pursue changes.

Agree with this entirely. As a parent volunteer who worked a lot on aftercare, there was nothing worse than a new person coming in and trashing the existing program without taking the time to ask why it is working and what others like about it. My experience has been that if you have an aftercare program that takes good care of your kids with caring staff, that is what you need most. I've seen some schools ditch a previous provider that was deemed unsatisfactory for things like inconvenient back office communication, only to end up with a worse provider who may have seemed better but had unsatisfactory care of the kids.

There's no harm in asking questions but the tone of OP's post comes across as entitled. Nothing works for everyone and so you figure out a plan to adjust. As others have said, there are some schools whose aftercare didn't have enough spots for all kids and so new parents would be placed on waitlists, having to figure out alternative arrangements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because you get what you pay for. Mann is more than $500/month. Janney parents run the aftercare parents and thus keep overhead costs low. Also, Janney is able to tap into the AU student community and so can be more flexible in scaling up and down on a moment's notice.

+1.

Janney is such an unusual situation. Besides being close to AU, I've noticed Janney is full of two-earner families where one parent works in academia or a think tank or something like that. That parent wants part-time aftercare (since those jobs are often flexible) and is also usually super-high-education and super invested in the quality of the aftercare program.

Janey is not that unique, lot of schools in DC offer that flexibility. We are at Lafayette (But it is parent run) and have a lot of flexibility. Our previous school used Springboad for aftercare, also flexible. A friend of DC at Maury (run privately) do aftercare only twice/week.

Lafayette is not parent run- It's a private business (CLS) that supplies aftercare to Murch and other schools as well. It allows only a few days a week, but not drop ins. You decide your year-long schedule up front.

Yes, Janney is unique.

Yes, it's the proximity to American that makes Janney able to enroll any kid with a 1-2 week notice and provide drop-in care. They have a pipeline of college students always at the ready (within walking distance). It's a pretty unique situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You haven't even started at this school yet.

Busting in and trying to change a plan that may well meet the needs of most of the parents is ... a little much.

Talk to the person in charge. Ask questions. Listen to the answers. Perhaps the things you want have been tried in the past and failed. Or perhaps the people in charge of the vendor will be willing to pursue changes.

Agree with this entirely. As a parent volunteer who worked a lot on aftercare, there was nothing worse than a new person coming in and trashing the existing program without taking the time to ask why it is working and what others like about it. My experience has been that if you have an aftercare program that takes good care of your kids with caring staff, that is what you need most. I've seen some schools ditch a previous provider that was deemed unsatisfactory for things like inconvenient back office communication, only to end up with a worse provider who may have seemed better but had unsatisfactory care of the kids.

There's no harm in asking questions but the tone of OP's post comes across as entitled. Nothing works for everyone and so you figure out a plan to adjust. As others have said, there are some schools whose aftercare didn't have enough spots for all kids and so new parents would be placed on waitlists, having to figure out alternative arrangements.

+1. I wonder if OP lotteried in and now has decided to demand changes to fit her preferences before even starting at the school, smh.

[Anonymous]

I think this is a parent coming from daycare and adjusting to the reality that is public school. The priority is not parent convenience.