Starting next year, afterschool programs across Unified School District No. 353 will take on an entirely new way of operating.
    After receiving state and federal funding since 1999, Wellington schools are now on their own to find money for their afterschool programs.
    For four years, the district had been receiving over $1.3 million grants from the state, but now all funding has been cut —compromises and creative solutions are now in effect.
    “There are no longer any large grants for afterschool,” said Glasgow. “We only have matching funds and whatever we would write the grant for, we would be expected to match with monies from the general fund. We simply can’t do that. Early retirement is taking a toll on the district and with the state of the economy, it’s not going to get better anytime soon,”
    Fees and donations from individuals, businesses and from money raised at the annual golf tournament will now be crucial to keeping the program alive.
    The middle school afterschool program, In the Zone, has been running under its own power for some time and has found ideas that work, though the elementary schools are now in for some changes.
    Some of the new changes to help the program continue will be new locations — with each elementary school and the middle school having separate sites.
    Each location will have one teacher and two para educators, making the ratio of teachers to students about 1 to 10, even on the busiest of afternoons.
    “We usually have about 30 students from each school on the heaviest of nights,” said Glasgow. She said individual attention will be an issue, though help with homework and study buddies will be available and be made a top priority.
    “We still want them to get their homework done so that they do have some family time when they get home.” she said.
    Though transportation to other schools was provided free of charge by Durham School Services, the lack of movement will keep the flow of the day going.
    “It will reduce transition time so the kids aren’t waiting for their snack before recess,” said Glasgow. She also added it would help with potential discipline problems, because those teachers and paras would see the children everyday — along with the principal.
    With each school, there will be no site coordinator, site secretary or office staff and new hours will be in effect. Afterschool will now end at 5:30 p.m. instead of 6 p.m., a change most parents agreed with.
    “It helps with the budget and most families feel very good about this,” said Glasgow. “This allows parents enough time to pick their children up after work if they get off at 5 p.m., and also keeps them from having to wait until 6 p.m. to get dinner and family time going in the evening.”
    Cuts in the number of program days are also expected with no afterschool on early dismissal days, parent/teacher conference days, teacher in-service or winter and spring breaks.
    For the children, however, the biggest change will be no more activities that have a cost factor; such as bowling, pizza parties, field trips or dinners.
    “We simply can’t afford it,” said Glasgow. Donations for special trips or parties will be accepted, however, if an individual or business would like to give of their time or services.
    “We won’t say no.” she said. Other activities provided by the Health Department, Recreation Center, the Wellington Public Library, and the Girl and Boy Scouts will still be available to students.
    “Is it ideal? No. Are we still offering a great service? Yes.” stated Glasgow.
    Though changes will be made and services will be adjusted to fit not only students and parent’s wants and needs, but the districts limitations, the assistant superintendent is confident in the program’s future.
    “We are going to find a way to make this work with what we have and not be dependent on other funding sources and still provide a great community service.” Glasgow firmly stated.
    For more information on your child’s afterschool program, contact the USD No. 353 Central Office at 326-4300 or their respective school.