Jaffrey after-school program suspended due to low participation

Coordinator Brenda Starr does an art project with Xavier Sola and Davina Carrillo during the Youth Empowerment Program after-school activity. —FILE PHOTO BY ASHLEY SAARI
Published: 01-21-2025 12:03 PM |
The Youth Empowerment Program, an after-school program for Jaffrey Grade School students, has been suspended until the start of the next school year due to low participation.
The program, administered through the Jaffrey Recreation Department and held in the grade school, was meant to fill a need for after-school care, after a previous after-school care program run by the district dissolved several years ago. Prior to relaunching the program, the Jaffrey-Rindge School District sent a survey to Jaffrey Grade School parents about whether they would use such a program. Over half of the 41 families that responded said they were “very likely” to, and another 27 percent said they were “likely” to, but those numbers have not been reflected in enrollment so far, said Jaffrey Town Manager Jon Frederick.
“There are very low numbers with attendance, between two and six kids,and to be sustainable, we need at least 10 per staff member,” Frederick said. The Youth Empowerment Program was planned with three staff members, meaning at least 30 children are needed to make it viable, but it has room for up to 50 participants.
Currently, the program charges charges $10 per day, or $50 per week, per child. Frederick said at the current number of participants, the income can’t support the program.
Previous after-school programs at Jaffrey Grade School have boasted between 60 to 80 children, so the town believes the demand is still there. Frederick said one of the issues may have been the timing of the program launch, which was done mid-semester.
“The thing I assume is that we started in the middle of the school year, and people already had their after-school care settled, and didn’t want to break away from those arrangements,” Frederick said. “We think that’s the big block.”
Frederick said despite the current low participation, the town still believes there is demand for this kind of program, and plans to relaunch it next September, to coincide with the start of the school year. There will be a signup period prior to the program launch, so that coordinators know how many children will be participating. Parents will be notified of how to sign up through letters home from the school district, the town website, social media and the Recreation Department’s website.
The current program will continue to run though the end of January before closing.
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“We don’t want to quit on this,” said Frederick. “We’re not going away, that’s the big thing. We will be back in the fall, and hopefully it works.”
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.