Deer Park School District has announced after-school programs at Deer Park Elementary and Arcadia Elementary to start in the first week of October. In addition, they will be holding a virtual meeting for individuals interested in more information next week.
The school district reports that for years, families of school-age children in Deer Park have requested that the school consider offering after-school childcare. The need for such a program has become increasingly vital as the Deer Park community has recently grown.
To provide the after-school programs, the school district will partner with Right At School, a nationally recognized school enrichment provider. Right At School will begin offering after-school care to Deer Park students in grade levels kindergarten through fifth. The programs will start on Monday, October 3rd. The programming will begin at the end of the school day at 2:50pm until 6:00pm every day school is in session.
Right At School provides a comprehensive enrichment curriculum to keep students engaged while they participate. Students will have a healthy snack, engage in vigorous fitness activities, student-driven projects, team building, leadership development, and have the opportunity to complete homework. The program also features an enriched curriculum in the form of two-week units.
Examples of units include:
- Getting Down to Business, providing an introduction to money and commerce
- Icky Experiments, an opportunity to experiment with sticky substances to learn chemistry
- Variety Show, where students rehearse and perform individual talent acts
Deer Park School District has allocated funding to provide partial tuition relief to all families enrolled in Right At School’s after-school programs. Using federal funds provided to schools via the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (pandemic relief for schools), DPSD will pay 30% of Right At School’s full-time rates in the 2022-23 school year, reducing the 5-day after school rate to just $225 per month ($97 in savings each month). The school district subsidy will decrease as the funds are exhausted over the next couple of years.
Currently, Right at School has plans to staff the programs for 45 students at each school; thus, enrollment slots will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. If demand exceeds staffing levels, Right at School is open to increasing staffing to support demand, but additional slots will not be available until staffing is secured.
If you have questions and need more information before enrolling your children, which is open now, you can go to Rightatschool.com/districts/deer-park-wa/.
Right At School staff will be hosting a virtual “Family Information Night” on August 16th at 6:00pm on zoom to provide an overview of their programs, answer questions, and interact with you.
