South San Francisco, CA March 4, 2019
Parents of Ponderosa Elementary School students are seeking an expansion of the current after school care program as one neighbor wrote to Everything South City;
“My neighborhood FB mom group posted that the City Council just approved to open 50 spots for after school at Buri Buri only. So some of us in our group, including myself, are emailing the City Council to consider the same for Ponderosa after school program. Can you please give a shout out to have families who have the same concerns email the City Council at [email protected]?”
“The SSFUSD first approached the city about expanding Buri Buri, so the partnership with the school district is very important. We have to work together to find space in a school. Any consideration for expansion must meet the licensing requirements for space allocation, which is a formula that dictates the square footage of space made available to each child in a licensed program. In other words, for Buri Buri, the school district and city staff identified the appropriate spaces on the Buri Buri campus that met these requirements. In order for the after school program to expand in other schools, the space first needs to be identified on site that meets the licensing requirements for space allocation. The lack of available space may be because the school might need to provide the space for teachers to use for their classrooms, or for other educational purposes. It’s good to note that last year, Monte Verde’s after school program expanded from 150 to 200 kids. Efforts to expand have been ongoing and as long as I’m on the city council, I will continue to advocate for the expansion of after school programs. For example, I’m on the City Council/School District committee, which is comprised of SSF council members and SSF school board members to discuss how the city and school district can collaborate. I plan on bringing the need to expand the after school program to other schools as an agenda item. I’m sure that I will continue to reach out to you and other parents about this important topic.”
“The after school program at Buri Buri Elementary will be expanded by 50 students. There was a wait list of 40 children, but with this planned budget request, we hope to wipe out the wait list. The enrollment expansion will bring the program’s capacity up to 130 children. The Buri Buri after school program is one of seven programs within the Recreation Division of the Parks and Recreation Department. The Childcare Program serves nearly 1200 Children. Thank you to all those that made this possible.”