Our school tried Flex for the first time this year and enrollment has been pretty poor, probably because of the cost and possibly because it makes it difficult for parents to organize providers they want that do not work with Flex.

I don't know if they are cheaper but CCES is usingEnrichment Academies and the club offerings have been great.

You should talk to the Ashburton PTA folks. They just switched to FLEX for the first time this year - maybe they can give you a sense of the before and after. I think you can get contact info via the web site ashburtonpta.org

Hi all,

Our school has been using FLEX Academies for the last several years as the third party facilitator for our after school clubs (https://flexyourafterschool.com/). I find the programs to be very expensive (they apparently charge a hefty fee that is part of the tuition, and also take a % of the vendor's revenues), and am looking for some alternatives to suggest. I think the high price is one of the reasons why we have a hard time getting enough enrollment, and sometimes end up cancelling clubs. It is also, of course, a limitation for some students ability to participate.

I have already talked to SMILE Activities (http://www.smileafterschool.com/about/) which operates in several nearby schools and seems much more reasonable price-wise and the owner just seems like a fantastic guy.

I also know that some schools do not have a facilitator, and rather just contract directly with different vendors, but I have heard that this usually means that some PTA parent is spending a TON of time dealing with it, and that's something we'd like to avoid.

Are there any other companies out there that people could recommend? Again, we're looking for a company that can organize and coordinate the entire after school clubs program, either using their own clubs/programs or outside vendors (or ideally, both), and not at the exorbitant prices we are seeing with FLEX.

Thanks!