School bus in New Providence or Summit NJ (Springfield, Berkeley Heights: day care, home)

[navagni]

Hi guys,

We are trying to move from NYC (Queens) to NJ this year, and have been looking at a few different towns, including Summit and New Providence. We are a little keener on New Providence, mainly because of more value for money (the schools seem excellent in both towns).

We have two young boys, once will will going into Kindergarten and the other will be going into 2nd grade. Both my wife and I work full time. From everything I have seen and read, both Summit and New Providence have half day kindergartens, and do not have school buses at all. This is making us very concerned about transport back and forth to school. Basically, we either have to join a local carpool, or use something else:

1. Wrap around program at The YWCA in Summit called The Connection that shuttles the kids from the primary schools to the after school program (doesn't work for New Providence).

2. There is a church in New Providence that offers a wrap around program. Here is the link: [url=http://pcnp.org/school/?page_id=17]School Year Class Options | The Preschool and Kindergarten at PCNP[/url].

3. Hire a local van or bus service, eg [url=http://www.vantasticshuttle.com/]Vantastic Shuttle LLC, childrens shuttle transportation services, Short Hills NJ[/url]. But that is $100+ per week per child (!) which seems excessive.

Are we thinking about this the right way? Are there other solutions that we haven't thought of? Are these towns out of question unless one of us quits our job and starts to drive the kids back and forth?

Thanks!

[NPparent]

I think you are about right... Not sure about the half day kindergarten, the following was what I looked at a few years ago, both YMCA and Connection at Summit provide after school programs. Summit day Care, which is part of YMCA, sent staff to both New Providence elementary schools for the after school program. I forgot the time, but I think they finish at around 6:00 pm. It may be difficult for parents working in Wall Street.


At least until a few years ago, YMCA also provides an option to bring the kids to YMCA, the benefit is that the kids can take YMCA classes (I believe with fees). The downside is that the kids may be on the bus for half an hour because the bus stopped at more than one school, by the time when the kids arrived at YMCA, there wasn't really much time left.


There is also a Catholic School, Our Lady of Peace, in New Providence, I think it has full day kindergarten and provides after school program.


If you talked to the school (at the time I talked to Our Lady of Peace) they may be able to recommend parents who take in children for after care... but the vacancy filled up fast.


I am not sure why you mentioned car pooling, did you mean you have people at home once the kids get home, or that you plan to have the 2nd grader with younger one at home alone, otherwise you may still need a nanny ...


I think Summit Day Care also has a kindergarten wrapped around program, i.e. the kindergarten is provided by Summit Day Care but I do not recommend it.


You may want to look into St James at Springfield, I sent my kid for pre-K there. I forgot whether they have after school program.


Other option is to hire a nanny, but the problem is that your schedule is at the mercy of the nanny, what if she suddenly cannot come. A few years ago, I offered to pay over $12/hr until 6:00 pm, promise her 1 1/2 times if we were late, with paid vacation, essentially she had the same vacation as we did. The day before school began, she called and told us she couldn't come because her mom was in the hospital, then another day and another day, we decided not to use her or any nanny any more. I found out it is difficult to guarantee reliability from a single person.



There may be parents who are willing to pick up and drop off for $6 to $8 per trip per child.

[bay]

We live in Berkeley Heights. Even though we have school bus, the timing is not so flexible for working parents. My son has been in YMCA since preschool. YMCA offers Kindergarten wrap around program as well as after school. There are two options for after school. One is at school and the other is at YMCA center. The one at school will close when school is off. The one at the center includes holiday care with no extra charge. The monthly price is about 100 dollars difference. If you sign up for before care option, Y can transport your children to respective school in the morning as well and you can drop off your children to Y as early as 7am. They can stay at Y to play till it's time for school. We do both before care and full care after school till 6pm for our second grader. The cost is around $600+ per month. Kindergarten wrap around is more expensive as school is only half day. I think I paid around 1200 per month when my son was in K but they do offer lots of enrichment activities in the afternoon. They go to Summit Y for swimming once a week and also have some kind of baking class.

I know Y at berkeley heights do after school for BH, Long Hills, and part of new providence (Alan Robert school). Summit Y does after school for Summit and part of new providence (Salt brook).