The Extended Day program run at Watertown’s elementary schools serves 400 students, but officials have struggled to find and keep staff to run the after-school program.
Extended Day is operated by Watertown Community Education, which is a self-sustaining
department of Watertown Public Schools. Its funding comes from tuition and fees, rather than from taxpayer dollars. The program is able to accommodate more than 90 percent of the demand, but there is a waiting list of 38 students for this fall.
In a memo to the School Committee, Debi Cornelius, Director of Community Education, wrote:
“The challenges our community faces with after-school care are not unique to Watertown. These challenges exist in our neighboring communities, in our state, and across the country. Though we are not a childcare provider, we understand the unique role that public schools can play in supporting our families. We believe that we have a role in supporting families to alleviate the burden of securing after-school care. We are extremely fortunate in our city to have a self sustaining program that serves 91% of families seeking after-school care within our elementary school buildings.
To that end, Watertown Public Schools will:
● Continue to provide the Lowell, Cunniff, and Hosmer elementary schools with the Extended Day program at the 400-student level.
● Advocate for increased pay for staff members.
● Support in marketing and recruiting efforts for Extended Day job openings.
● Evaluate and consider any changes that may be made to our program based on these efforts prior to the next school year.”
The Extended Day Program has lead teachers, assistant teachers, student support aides, nurses, behavior support specialists, program support staff, and high school assistants. Since the pandemic, the program has struggled to recruit, hire, retain people in this positions. The program runs for 3.5 hours in the afternoons, and does not offer benefits.
The program still needs to hire 12 positions to staff for 400 students, Cornelius said in the memo.
“Finding qualified individuals to work for 3.5 hours in the afternoon is the biggest hurdle we face in fully staffing the program, let alone eliminating this waitlist,” she said in the memo.
In an effort to aid recruiting, Extended Day has proposed increasing wages, in many cases by $5 an hour or more. Also proposed is having hiring bonuses of up to $1,000 if the employee stays the entire year, and a bonus for returning employees of up to $1,000.
The proposals will be considered by the School Committee on Monday, July 29, at a pair of meetings on Zoom. The first is a Budget Subcommittee meeting at 4:30 p.m., followed by a meeting of the full School Committee at 5 p.m. The public will be able to participate remotely in both meetings.
The link for the Budget Sub-Committee is https://watertown-k12-ma-us.zoom.us/j/88956711948
The link for the School Committee is https://watertown-k12-ma-us.zoom.us/j/86961556246