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Nebraska receives high marks for after-school programs

Nebraska has been ranked a "Top 10 State for After School" in a recent national survey that gauged parent satisfaction and overall support of after school programs.

The After School Alliance's After 3 p.m. survey ranked Nebraska No. 8 behind California, Washington, D.C., Florida, Vermont, Massachusetts, Arizona, and Oregon.

The survey found that 22 percent (71,983) of K-12 students in Nebraska are responsible for taking care of themselves after school. The youth are on average by themselves for 8.15 hours a week.

In light of these numbers, Nebraska's school board wants to place more emphasis on developing even more after-school programs for Nebraska's youth. The survey concludes that 77 percent of parents supports public funding for after school programs.

"Nebraska has made great progress creating after school opportunities for its children, and can be proud of that," said After School Alliance Executive Director Jodi Grant. "But there's no question that more work remains. Most parents in the state who want their child in a program can't find one that works for them, and that needs to change. Every Nebraska family that needs an after-school program should have access to one."

The number of unsupervised youth in the hours after school remains high. Across the nation, more than 800,000 elementary students, and 2.2 million middle school students spend time alone and unsupervised during the after school hours. In all, 11.3 million youth – one in five – are unsupervised in the afternoons.

"We have important building blocks for future progress already in place in Nebraska," said Jeff Cole, the network lead of Beyond School Bells. "The survey found that 97 percent of parents with children in after school programs are satisfied with the program their child attends. Also encouraging is the rock solid support for public funding of after school. Seventy-seven percent of Nebraska parents in the survey said they support public funding for after school programs."

Nebraska State Board of Education policy states that in order to help prepare future generations of Nebraska youth for success in life, Nebraska's schools, families and communities must work together to provide multiple opportunities for healthy growth, development and academic success.

"The programs I am aware of provide homework and/or tutoring as a backbone of their programs. Because of this it insurers that students are getting the homework support they might need," said the program director of Sidney Public Schools, Coleen Langdon. "There is also a direct line of communication between teachers and after school program staff as to the homework needs of the students. With parents being required to come into the building to sign out their children the after school staff sees parents daily. This is invaluable communication for families as after-school staff can relate school difficulties, successes, needs and act as a type of liaison between home and school."

The survey reports that participation in after school programs is up nationally, with 18 percent of the nation's youth in programs (10.2 million), up from 15 percent in 2009 (8.4 million).

At the same time, unmet demand has increased. The parents of nearly 20 million youth say they would enroll their child in an after-school program if one was available to them. The existing supply of after-school programs is meeting barely one-third of demand.

"As the study shows families that have children participate in Nebraska after-school programs (also called Enhanced Learning Opportunities or ELO) are happy with their children attending because of the number of hours that are available for their children," Langdon said. "The model in Nebraska is about three hours after school everyday school is in session. Some programs, (ours included) also have several All Day Events a year when school is not in session but i is a regular work week for parents. Many have summer programs as well. Sidney offers nine weeks of summer day camp from 7:30 to 3:30 p.m. during the summer. These hours provide a consistent day care for their children while parents are working. Also most ELO's are a part of a school, YMCA, parks and recreation programs and 4-H. These sponsoring programs inspire confidence in families that their children are not just at the babysitters but are getting a quality educational, social, and emotional foundation during this down time."

The survey shows that support for public funding of after school programs remains strong. More than four in five parents report that they are in favor of public funding for after school opportunities. This support is across all geographic regions.

The survey also concludes that support for public funding is bipartisan, with 91 percent of parents who identify as Democrats, 86 percent Independents and 80 percent of Republicans favoring public funding for programs.

"The number one comment I get from parents is that after their children attend the after school program, and the family is home the tension drops significantly because parent don't have to spend the precious hours they have with their children fighting over homework," Langdon said. "Some parents feel inadequate helping with homework because it has changed so much from when I was in school.

"Children are free for the evening to be with family and to have some carefree time. The next day children can go back into the classroom with even more instruction time under their belts and a greater understanding of the educational concepts. Hopefully this leads to better grades ,better scores, and students enjoying school more. In the long run there is a lesser degree of failing grades, dropouts and detachment from school itself."

The programs in Nebraska can benefit everyone because they are of low cost. This allows children spanning through all races and socioeconomic statuses.

"In Nebraska most after school programs are very affordable or even free," Langdon said. "Our program charges $6 a day with a sliding scale for reduced and free lunch students. This allows some families that cannot afford day care to have their children in a safe and productive place to learn and grow when school is not in session.

"Law enforcement agencies, parents and educators recognize that the hours between 3 and 6 p.m. when parents are still at work and children are not involved in activities are the most perilous of the day. This free time allows students the opportunity to engage in risky behaviors such as drinking, sex, smoking, drug experimenting and getting into trouble with the law. For younger students there is the inherent danger of just being home alone. By attending after school programs not only do students have this opportunity taken away they actually engage themselves in new learning activities and healthy lifestyle activities they might not ever get to experience anytime or anywhere else. This is a huge relief to parents."

 

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