The return to classrooms for the nation’s schoolchildren has not meant a return to work for many of their parents who, with workdays that outlast school days, are finding crucial after-school programs in short supply.
School-based providers list difficulties hiring and retaining staff as the biggest reasons they have not fully rebounded from pandemic shutdowns and they say they are as frustrated as the parents they are turning away.“We’re in a constant state of flux. We’ll hire one staffer and another will resign,” said Ester Buendia, assistant director for after-school programs at Northside Independent School District in Texas. “We’ve just not been able to catch up this year.
“If women don’t return to the workforce then we don’t have the staff we need for these after-school opportunities, so it’s all very tangled together,” she said. A Census Bureau data poll in January found that 6% of parents with children 5-11 years old were not working because a child was not in school or day care.found that in the last quarter of 2021, 6% fewer jobs were held by parents of children age 5 to 12.
“I would have had to probably change my schedule to go pick them up, drop them off and come all the way back to work,” she said. “We would have figured something out but it definitely would have been a challenge.” “For a good portion of our families, this is a lifeline for them, and it gives them the ability to be able to work but also have the peace of mind that their kids are in a safe and engaging environment. It’s 100% a lifeline,” X said.