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Oyster Aftercare
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Anonymous
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... Is already booked for next year (as of May!).
I work full time and need care for about 15 hours a week. Do slots open up later in the summer? Are they expanding the current program due to need? What do families that do not get into the aftercare program do for child care? Any advice, as I am stressed about the potential cost ($15/hour or $900/month for sitter vs $300/month for the aftercare program). |
Anonymous
| I don't expect the program to expand. Speak with the coordinator about chances the wait list will move. They're probably decent, but you'll have to have a plan B ready to go just in case. |
Anonymous
Any plan B suggestions? Also, do you know why aftercare is such an issue at Oyster, as it seems my friends with kids at other school are not having this issue... |
Anonymous
For plan B - check some of the other school's close by, including privates. Sometimes they will take a non-student for aftercare if they have space. |
Anonymous
This will be my kid's first year in aftercare (OCA), so I'm not the most knowledgeable person to ask. Still, it seems that they keep the program small and separate the ages strictly. That's a strength. I've heard that parents also use the DC Parks and Rec. program, which I think is on campus, and also Centro Nea. As far as other schools, I know that one other nearby public school has a much less structured aftercare program and may be more flexible about numbers for that reason. |
Anonymous
| Why would they play for less than full capacity? If they know 100 kids need care, why would they only plan for 75 spots? |
Anonymous
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This happened to me too. We were told months back that there would be space in either OCA or the other program, then registered for school and learned of the waitlist. It happened to another family we know also.
American University has a jobs board where you can place an ad for a part-time babysitter, or you could get on one of the neighborhood list servs and see if someone wants to do a nanny share. It's a total bummer. Silver lining for me was that it caused me to finally work up the cojones to demand a part-time schedule from my job, which was granted. But that's not an answer that everyone can get. Good luck. |
Anonymous
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I have a rising K student and got on the wait list for the OCA after care two days after it opened to new students (ie ones not in preK or siblings already)... it is amazing that there was already a list in May and no new K kids are on it! There is only 1 preK class and there will be 3 K classes; does this mean 50 kids are not going to have child care?
Is the PTA doing anything about it, or the school? How do middle income families afford private care (and cannot get a PT work schedule)? I am already VERY dissapointed in the school and we have not even started yet! |
Anonymous
Why is it the school's responsibility to provide aftercare? |
Anonymous
All of the other DCPS's do... They do provide care, just not enough and it seems to have been a problem for a long time now without a viable resolution. |
Anonymous
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I thought aftercare was run / sponsored by the PTA OR DC Parks and Rec and although it may take place on the same facilities as the school ir not a part of the school budget nor is it the responsibility of the principal to administer.
Is this not correct? |
Anonymous
You are correct. OCA is only loosely affiliated with the school and administered completely separately. DCPS isn't really in the aftercare business. I don't have an answer for the very significant social question of how middle income families afford private care. For my family, we decided it simply wasn't worth it. I worked part time from K-3 and accepted the professional consequences. I'm not proposing that this is a good solution for OP, but it is a problem that is much bigger than Oyster and its administration, and sadly, it is OP's to solve, not the school's. |
Anonymous
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OP Here: I am not asking the school to solve my problem. I am expressing a bit of shock that aftercare would be such a "hot commodity" at one school, and not most of the other NW DC schools I have friends with kids attending. I was also trying to see what other families do if they do not get into the program. I like to be prepared!
I am unable to drop my work hours as I am a single parent, but it would be great to be able to have that luxury. Also, I am aware that the DCPS does not provide after care, DCPR does at a lot of schools and is currently trying to get the public schools to take it over. |
Anonymous
So, we just shouldn't have affordable child care for anyone? Whose responsiblity is it to provide affordable childcare for the 80% of moms who work in this country? Do you know how hard it is to find a RELIABLE afterschool babysitter? Most people can't afford to pay for fulltime care to just have them sit around waiting for the kids to be finished with school. I simply cannot afford to pay for a nanny. And yet I can't afford to stay home. Welcome to the middle class crunch. |
Anonymous
If we're pie-in-the-sky-ing, then instead of a government handout for childcare, we should have a handout to make being a working mother unnecessary for those whose chosen professions pay peanuts. This is especially relevant for those of us in a local economy in which the cost of outsourced domestic labor is inflated. I don't know what to say... sorry there's no spot for you, OP. I don't know what all the other Ward 3 schools do, but I'd be surprised to hear that they have no wait lists ever. I do appreciate your predicament, but I don't have a real-world solution. |