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Cuts to After-School Programming Draws Protest

November 10, 2009

ON OCT. 22, STUDENTS FROM PS 59 AND PS/MS 279 HELD A RALLY TO BRING ATTENTION TO RECENT CUTS TO AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMMING (PHOTO: P. EGAN)

ON OCT. 22, STUDENTS FROM PS 59 AND PS/MS 279 HELD A RALLY TO BRING ATTENTION TO RECENT CUTS TO AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMMING (PHOTO: P. EGAN)

By PATRICK EGAN

When school started this past September at three local schools, hundreds of kids, and their parents, had to face the reality that the afterschool program they’d once counted on no longer had room for them.

The program, run by the non-profit Committee for Hispanic Children and Families, served 635 children last year. After funding cuts, it provides for only 320. The non-profit no longer serves PS 306 on West Tremont Avenue, and at PS/MS 279 and PS 59, it eliminated the kindergarten program, capped enrollment and stripped the programs of many special features.

On a recent afternoon, the fortunate kids gathered with program and school leaders in the PS/MS 279 schoolyard on Walton Avenue to give thanks for what they have and to call for restoration of $427,000 in lost funding. Jocelyn Robles, a fifth grader at PS 59, a school on Bathgate Avenue, was brave enough to stand before a sea of giddy, fidgeting children in bright yellow T-shirts with “Lights on Afterschool” across the chest.

Jocelyn warned that it “may take me an hour” to talk about everything she loved in the program, including group projects and researching sea life.

The Committee for Hispanic Children and Families, a New York City-based non-profit, has been providing education and development services to the Latino community for over 25 years.

Their after-school program, which is free, provides a couple of hours of activities like dance and music, science projects and homework help.

The Lights on Afterschool rally was one of 7,500 similar happenings at schools across the country. The Afterschool Alliance, a national advocate for after-school programs, sponsored the drive. It says there are almost 5 million children in primary or middle school who are on their own when the final school bell rings.

After-school programming faces tougher obstacles each year. Helena Yordan, who directs the program at PS/MS 279, has been at the school since 1999. She remembers the days when there was double the staff and twice the number of kids.

The funding that the Latino non-profit lost had previously come from the New York Office of Children and Family Services through a program called Advantage After School.

“So many organizations apply for it that it was extremely competitive,” said Susan Brenna of The After-School Corporation, an intermediary between programs and funding sources. According to Brenna, only 78 of the 270 organizations that applied received grants this year.

Brenna cited a survey that her organization conducted this past summer along with the Partnership for After School Education. After contacting more than 100 non-profit agencies in New York City that provide after school programs, the two groups found that 56 percent had suffered budget cutbacks and 40 percent will serve fewer children.

“Now we have to be like magicians to create something from nothing,” Yordan said.“You have to be very creative to maintain the quality.”

Yordan explained that they lost six staff members from last year and that there are 60 children on the waiting list. That said, they still do wonders with the children they can help.

“The students in the program look forward to the whole school day,” said James Waslawski, the principal of PS/MS 279.“Their attention is better [than students not in the program],” he added. “And they get a remix of what they learned in school.”

Help with homework is vital in this predominantly Latino community. According to program staff, many parents don’t speak English, so the assistance boosts grades and test scores.

The Center for After-School Excellence did a study comparing students in after-school programs against those students not in a program. At PS/MS 279 in 2008, 76 percent of children in the after-school program met math standards versus 66 percent for the rest of the school. The results were similar in English language arts: 61 percent versus 47 percent.

The program also serves as a safe haven. Amy Gonzalez is the single mother of Giselle, 14, an eighth-grader at PS/MS 279 who was in the program for two years and is now on the program’s waiting list.

“I can’t have my kid on the street for three hours,” Gonzalez said.

After all the speakers had their say, the kids marched around the neighborhood, a parade of yellow and smiles chanting their demand for more after-school funding.

The kids then streamed back into the playground. The live sounds of BombaYo, an Afro- uerto Rican song-and-drum group, bounced off the school’s brick walls. One of the percussionists was Wilson Lantigua, 16. He learned to play music as part of this after-school program.

The swarm of bodies grooved closer and closer to the musicians. Outside the yard’s perimeter, a dozen or more kids clung to the iron rails of the playground’s fence, looking in to see what was going on.

Written by admin · Filed Under Latest, News/Features, School News 

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3 Responses to “Cuts to After-School Programming Draws Protest”

  1. Narrative NYC » Blog Archive » Cuts to After-School Programming Draws Protest on November 10th, 2009 6:56 pm

    [...] Also published on Mount Hope Monitor [...]

  2. Rise & Shine: City budget cuts set to be deepest since 2002 | GothamSchools on November 11th, 2009 5:59 am

    [...] Parents in the Bronx protested against cuts to after-school programs. (Mount Hope Monitor) [...]

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    [...] Cuts to After-School Programming Draws Protest (Mount Hope Monitor) [...]

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