All elementary schools in the St. Louis Public Schools district will for the first time have before- and after-care programs for students beginning Monday on the first day of school.
For the 42 elementary schools across the district, 1,694 slots are available for child care before school, and 3,061 slots are available for after care, said LaTisha Smith, deputy chief of Student Support Services during a school board meeting earlier this week.
That’s 46% more before-care spots available for the 2024-25 school year compared to last year, and 15% more for after care. SLPS officials said the increase is part of an effort to build trust and partnership between the district and families.
Members of the SLPS Board of Education expressed gratitude for enhanced services and praised the administration for listening to parents and principals.
“Our parents instill a lot of faith and trust in the district to educate their children, and they also partner with us on before and after care for their children,” Smith said. Slots available at each school are based on previously provided programming, and all new sites were provided with a minimum of 15 slots for before and after care.
Some sites have more slots available than others, Smith said, because some are starting from scratch. Availability of spaces is limited but will eventually increase based on demand and staffing, she said. Each site has a supervisor who will work to ensure there is proper staffing as the year unfolds.
Board of Education Vice President Matt Davis said he’s been complaining about the district’s before- and after-care program for years. He said he’s impressed by the last-minute proactiveness of the district’s Student Support Services team, which has been scrambling every year since the pandemic to change the model.
“If we can land on this model and be able to fund it, it's really going to be a good service for our parents and families to just make it easier and our schools more accessible,” Davis said.
When parents and guardians drop kids off for before and after care, they will be greeted by a staff member they’re familiar with from their school, Smith said. Safety and security officers will also be present as friendly faces parents and students will recognize, she said.
“It's not about students just sitting on a gym floor,” Smith said. “They're going to be providing a hands-on innovative extension of classroom activities.”
Families will be responsible for picking up and dropping off their kids. Programming will run until the last day of school for students in those programs — which will cost the district roughly $2.6 million. All programs are funded by a combination of SLPS, 21st Century Grants, partner sponsorships and paid programming.
“Before, programming started at the second week of school, with some of our grant-funded programs not even beginning until October,” Smith said. Care will begin one hour, 15 minutes before school starts each day and will end at 6 p.m.
Online registration for before- and after-care programs opened Aug. 6 and will remain open all year, SLPS officials said. Site supervisors will work with parents to confirm student enrollment, placements and waitlists with families.
The majority of before- and after-care programs are free of charge and managed by SLPS and partners. But parents have to pay for before and after care at the Stix Early Childhood Center, Wilkinson Early Childhood Center, Betty Wheeler Classical Junior Academy and Mallinckrodt Academy of Gifted Instruction, she added.
“We do want to point out that these sites have had long-standing parent-paid before- and after-care programming, so we did not disrupt these models, and we maintain those models at the same service levels that they have been provided in previous years,” Smith said.
Although SLPS plans for before and after care to begin districtwide on the first day of school, parents should contact their school directly for current information about the availability of those programs.
A list of all elementary schools in the district and an online registration form for before and after care can be found on SLPS' website. Families can select their school name to check bell times, before and after care schedules and other information. Families must have a registered account to sign up and can register for that account online.
