3 Reasons to Consider Turning Your Before and After School Programs into a NYS Licensed Child Care Program By Thomas Venniro, CPRP, Director of Parks and Recreation, Town of Parma – Hilton-Parma Parks and Recreation
Certification, regulations, paperwork, inspections, time, cost, and… more paperwork! These may be a few reasons why you may have never considered offering a Licensed Child Care Program for the organization you serve. For years, many of us have resisted the thought and possibility of offering before and after school programs as recognized child care. By classifying our programs as a single purpose ‘recreation’ program or limiting program hours of operation, we are exempt from doing so, and thus, exempt from all those scary words above. I have been fortunate enough to oversee before and after school programs in the communities I have served since 2007. In my current role with the Town of Parma and Hilton-Parma Parks & Recreation Department, we started our program in the fall of 2017 operating as a single purpose ‘recreation’ program. At one point we were actually reported to OCFS (The Office of Children and Family Services) as a child care program operating without a license. An OCFS representative came to our site, inspected it,
and cited us for being a child care program operating without a license. Ultimately, it was determined that we were running a before and after school recreation program and we never heard from the OCFS again, continuing to operate the program as it was for the next several years. Fast forward to March of 2020 and the beginning of the pandemic we all know as COVID-19. Like all programs, service, and activities, schools temporarily shut down and with them, so did before and after school programs. Once school resumed, however, not all wrap around programs did the same. Many schools returned in a fully remote, in-person alternating day, or hybrid structure. This created an added need for out of school resources as parents and guardians entered back into their own workforce. Due to NYS reopening guidelines, general ‘recreation’ programs were not permitted to operate until July of 2020, so even if we had the resources to host students while learning remotely or on days they were not to report to school, we were unable to. Licensed child care programs, on the other
while many of us spent the remainder of the school year standing on the sidelines, closed down, and furloughing staff, child care providers went back to work and many of our loyal customers found their services in this time of need.
22 The Voice | Fall/Winter 2021 • nysrps.org
