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Hoover schools consider partnership with YMCA for after-school care

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Photo courtesy of YMCA

Hoover school officials are considering collaborating with the YMCA of Greater Birmingham for after-school care, Superintendent Kathy Murphy told the Hoover school board tonight.

Murphy said school officials have had some preliminary conversations with YMCA officials and will be studying whether to collaborate with the YMCA or keep the after-school care program under the auspices of the school district.

“The YMCA has a very strong curriculum where they focus on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math),” Murphy said. “We are very impressed with the program they have in place.”

Hoover schools have about 1,000 children in their after-school programs at the elementary schools and Brock’s Gap Intermediate School, said Tina Hancock, the school system’s chief financial officer.

The program currently makes about $300,000 in profit, and “we do not want to consider anything that will decrease that profit,” Hancock said.

However, the reason the school district is interested in the YMCA program is because of how strongly it is based on curriculum, Hancock said.

The YMCA after-school academies spend 30 minutes a day on academic enrichment, 30 minutes a day on health and wellness activities, arts education one hour per week, leadership development two hours per week, global learning and inclusion one hour per week, 21st century skills two times per week, college and career exploration two times a month, service learning once a quarter and parent and family engagement activities three times a year, according to the YMCA website.

Dan Pile, the new CEO for the YMCA of Greater Birmingham, said all of the YMCA’s current after-school programs are based in YMCA facilities, except a new one that just started in Walker County.

However, if Hoover and the YMCA were to partner in an after-school program, he would prefer to see those programs continue to be based in the schools. It’s more convenient for parents, more cost-effective, and the kids can spend more time in the program instead of on a bus, he said.

Pile, who just came to Birmingham in May from a job as senior vice president of operations for the YMCA of Metro Atlanta, said he has more than 30 years experience with after-school care, nutrition and values-based programs and believes strongly in their ability to help children grow and develop.

The YMCA is a nonprofit and uses a sliding fee schedule, and no child is ever turned away because of income limitations, Pile said.

Hancock said the YMCA typically draws heavily from college education programs for staffing, and school officials think the YMCA program might help students more than the program that Hoover City Schools currently offers.

The Hoover system also has a tough time finding employees for its after-school care program because the job is only three hours per day, she said.

The YMCA of Greater Birmingham currently offers after-school academies at nine facilities, including in Greystone, western Hoover, Alabaster, downtown Birmingham, Homewood, Pelham, Roebuck, Trussville and Walker County.

Hancock said that if Hoover City Schools were to partner with the YMCA, it would not be in this school year.

Pile said both parties will continue to evaluate whether a partnership would work, but he believes they can accomplish more by working together than separately.

Also tonight, Assistant Superintendent Ron Dodson informed the school board that as of today — the fifth day of the school year, 13,828 students are enrolled in Hoover City Schools. That’s within 0.2 percent of what school officials had predicted, he said.

There are still 116 students who are enrolled but have not shown up for school yet, but some of those are traveling, Dodson said. By the end of the school year, the school district expects to enroll about 140 more students due to new home construction, he said.

In other business tonight, the school board:

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