Over the past few days we have been reviewing the number of families/children that need before and after school care or even just before or after care with the new A/B schedule, staffing levels needed for different plans, and the financial aspect. After careful review, we have determined that the best opportunity for us to continue serving families/children is to run all programming at the Dubuque Y.
This means that the Dubuque Y will act as “home base” and allow us to operate before and after school care, as well as no school day care all in one place. Though our program will look different than years past, we are pleased to have the opportunity to continue serving families and children during this challenging time. The main difference is that we will assist in their enrichment when they are out of the classroom. Registration and FAQ’s can be found on our website.
To help make all of this possible, we reached out to RTA who has funds available to provide transportation to children under the age of 15 for FREE! Even though there is no busing charge parents will have to contract directly with the RTA for the service. Assigned busses would transport children to schools in the morning and return them to the Y in the afternoon.
Y staff would ensure that your child was on the correct bus in the morning, and that they arrived back at the Y in the afternoon. RTA has been providing transportation to Head Start for a long time and we believe this is the best option to provide before and after school care in a cost effective and safe manner. All RTA staff are background checked and fingerprinted, and are subject to random drug and alcohol tests.
By operating in this manner and to abide by DHS regulations our current facilities will allow us to accommodate up to 90 children who need care before and after school, as well as families who need care on days that their child is not scheduled to attend school. This ensures that IF school were to go all “virtual” at any time we would be able to continue serving all children in the program.
Additional advantages to this plan allows you to drop off and pick up your child at the same place every day. Children will have the continuity of being with the same staff in the same place every day. Another benefit of being at the Y is that you could enroll your child in Y programs such as swimming lessons while they are in attendance with us. This could allow your child to participate without you needing to come back to the Y on weekends or later in the evenings.
The Y is committed to offering quality child care programs for families in our community. We have worked very hard with the District and other partners to find the best option we can to ensure the safety and education of the children enrolled in our programs.
Comment here