Arlington County - Extended Day? or other before/after care options

[Anonymous]

How happy are parents with the Arlington County Extended Day? Is it fairly well run? Do the kids enjoy it? Is it the only option for before and after care for Arlington county schools?

It seems to be closed for teacher work days - what do parents normally do? Is there are other programs kids attend those days?

[Anonymous]

We use extended day at Randolph ES (s Arlington). We love it - the staff are great and our daughter loves it. I think it does vary, though, depending on which school you're at. Teacher work days = one of us has to take the day off.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback - I was surprised how pricey it was per month for care.

[Anonymous]

DD does before and after care at Henry and she loves it. Like pp said, I think it depends on the school. As for teacher work days, we usually do camp - Everwonder and Lola's Lab both have teacher work day options.

[Anonymous]

OP, why does it seem pricey to you? I want my childcare to be expensive if it mean the people looking after my kids are paid well.

[Anonymous]

I actually found it to be very reasonable, given what we had previously been paying for fulltime daycare/preschool. It works out to about $5/hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How happy are parents with the Arlington County Extended Day? Is it fairly well run? Do the kids enjoy it? Is it the only option for before and after care for Arlington county schools?

It seems to be closed for teacher work days - what do parents normally do? Is there are other programs kids attend those days?

There are many camps on Teacher Workdays. Lola's Lab usually has camps at my son's school (Glebe) and there are others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, why does it seem pricey to you? I want my childcare to be expensive if it mean the people looking after my kids are paid well.

OP here - but your assumption is wrong. The people filling these jobs are not paid well and it is actually tricky to find staff to do the split schedules.

The reason I think it is pricey is because for 10 mths before and after care cost @$4K a year add in additiona care on days that school is out but care is not available and then add another $3K for summer camps and I that's close to $8K for the year.

[Anonymous]

Also, thanks for the info on other locations for camps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, why does it seem pricey to you? I want my childcare to be expensive if it mean the people looking after my kids are paid well.

OP here - but your assumption is wrong. The people filling these jobs are not paid well and it is actually tricky to find staff to do the split schedules.

The reason I think it is pricey is because for 10 mths before and after care cost @$4K a year add in additiona care on days that school is out but care is not available and then add another $3K for summer camps and I that's close to $8K for the year.

did you forget how much more infant/child care cost?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, why does it seem pricey to you? I want my childcare to be expensive if it mean the people looking after my kids are paid well.

OP here - but your assumption is wrong. The people filling these jobs are not paid well and it is actually tricky to find staff to do the split schedules.

The reason I think it is pricey is because for 10 mths before and after care cost @$4K a year add in additiona care on days that school is out but care is not available and then add another $3K for summer camps and I that's close to $8K for the year.

did you forget how much more infant/child care cost?

Yes as a matter of fact -my kid is almost 8 -and I have not paid day care costs in years. Quit working for a while and then went back and currently we are in Alexandria City and they have a very low cost rec program for after school care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually found it to be very reasonable, given what we had previously been paying for fulltime daycare/preschool. It works out to about $5/hour.

Ditto this. I find it a bit of a bargain. My child has been in it for 2 years now and we've been happy. It's well-run, the staff all know my daughter and our whole family, and she has some good friends she enjoys playing with in the afternoons who she hasn't had in her classes so it's been a good experience.

On days off from school, we take turns staying home or getting a family member to watch her. I suppose we could hire a college kid as a sitter but we haven't tried that yet. Some of my neighbors take turns staying with the kids one day and then switching for the next so the stay-home burden gets shared among working parents.

[Anonymous]

Also, the extended day staff are a great resource if you need a babysitter! They already know your child and they've been fully checked out by the county when they were hired.