Sign up: Afterschool Forum with Councilor Wilson | next Thurs (3/14), 7p, Zoom
"Together with other parents, experts, and providers, we will begin the conversation on a clear path forward for afterschool in our city," say organizers.
Hey, we’d love to see a “clear path forward for afterschool in our city!" (Please see our last update on afterschool for some insight into how stymied things appear right now.)
👏🏼 Thanks to parent Christopher Cullen for forwarding this event to me and Amanda.
Please sign up:
Title: Afterschool Forum with Ayesha Wilson & Khari Milner
Host: Cambridge Residents Alliance
When: Next Thursday, 3/14, 7-8:30pm
Where: online
When you register, there’s a space for asking your afterschool questions.
Forum Description (from the email)
Our guests will be City Councillor, and long-time Cambridge school committee member Ayesha Wilson, and Khari Milner, co-director of the Agenda for Children Out of School Time Initiative. Together with other parents, experts, and providers, we will begin the conversation on a clear path forward for afterschool in our city. […]
[A]s we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, hundreds of families are struggling to find care for their children after school hours. There have always been waiting lists, but the departure of so many qualified teachers over the last three years has made afterschool even harder for our city's low-income and working families to access. [Note: DHSP actually changed the rules in 2022 so that low-income families now get priority in the afterschool lottery, something we’ve written about many times.]
Meanwhile, the demands on teachers and administrators have significantly increased, as children and parents cope with extraordinary psychological stress and learning loss.
What are the current barriers to expansion? What do we need from City Hall and CPSD to overcome these challenges? Building on the successful public-private Universal Pre-K initiative, can we envision a coordinated, city-led effort to achieve universal afterschool?
And also: Official afterschool meeting expected soon
In addition, we’re expecting another public meeting with DHSP leadership to be held in the next month or so. That will be an important time for parents to strategize around and use to push for improvements. We’ll keep you in the loop.
Want to be in the loop?
This is the link to subscribe for afterschool updates, if you got this email from a friend.