after school care/activities? (Dallas, Arlington: daycare, YMCA, school districts)

[astropathtobe]

We are moving to the area this summer with elementary school children (one going into 5th grade) and are trying to figure out best areas (with good public schools) to live in. We are unfortunately not familiar with Dallas area and not sure we can really visit before moving. We will be working in Dallas (UTSW) and Arlington and are therefore looking at Park cities, Coppell, Southlake. I was wondering if these school districts differ in number of after school programs/activities for elementary and middle school?

[JTC Mom]

Normally (pre Covid) HPISD offers after school care at the elementary campuses (K-4), until 6pm M-F through an organization called the Academy for Lifelong Learning(ALL). I am not familiar with the middle school but I would guess they do not offer aftercare. At our HPISD elementary school I would estimate about 5-10 percent of the students are in aftercare. But, every child I know who has done it loves it. I think (not sure) it is about $300 per month and enrollment requires a full year commitment. The kids play games, eat a snack and work on homework. There are a few other ALL enrichment activities (art, chess, karate, computer coding, etc.) provided on campus after school, but they require separate enrollment and fees. The vast majority of students participate in extracurricular sports and activities outside of school through the Park Cities YMCA and private organizations. Good luck with your move.

[mSooner]

I know Coppell ISD has an after school care program with the YMCA. I'm not sure if there are others. Also not sure if it will happen this year.

[compSciGuy]

Previously, pre-Covid, there were many off-campus providers that would pick up kids from multiple schools in small mini-buses and take them to their offsite location. This would apply to elementary school kids, I am not sure about middle school. I believe there are still some providers for middle school-age children, and I think some programs have age limits.

[bmlx]

To my understanding, Carroll ISD (Southlake) does not have any on-site after school care, if you are particularly interested in on-site care.

For those districts offering on-site after school care, districts can either offer this themselves (such as Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, with KidzU), or in most cases, will contract with a third-party organization to offer this service. If the program is offered through the district themselves (and staffed by district employees, as with GCISD KidzU), then there is an exemption to state daycare licensing regulations (including child-to-staff ratios). If contracted out to a third-party, as most such programs are, then state daycare licensing regulations will apply to that operation. Even then, there are some waivers for things such as playground equipment.

I know you are not looking at Frisco, but Frisco ISD actually has two after-school care providers (YMCA and AlphaBEST) in their elementary schools. Most districts do not seem to offer anything at the middle school level.

Full disclosure: I work for an organization that provides after-school care in multiple DFW-area school districts.