D.C. Rec Centers To Host Play Days

Interesting comments below....... D.C. Rec Centers To Host Play Days Students Welcomed as Teachers Train By Nikita Stewart Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 17, 2009 More than two dozen District recreation centers will open their doors Friday to D.C. public school students when school is out for a teacher training day, to provide relief for parents faced with the mad scramble for child care. Consider the officially dubbed "play day" to be the ultimate citywide drop-in service. And it's free. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, who has pushed for more teacher training in her quest to improve the troubled school district, put five professional development days on this year's school calendar. Parents will have to find care for their children on those five days, in addition to those not-so-holiday holidays such as Veterans and Presidents' days. "For some families, that's a hardship," said Jacquie Jones, co-president of the Home and School Association at Eaton Elementary School in Northwest Washington. Like many parents, Jones had no idea play day was available. Although play day was advertised on e-mail lists and through a news release, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) did not hold his usual news conference to unveil it. Friday is being treated as a soft opening for the program. Mafara Hobson, a Fenty spokeswoman, said play day is open to everyone at 27 recreation centers in every ward. Enrollment forms are available at recreation centers and at the Department of Parks and Recreation Web site. Students can be signed up on the spot if space is available. From 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., students in pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade will be entertained with Wii, tennis and even fishing, depending on the recreation center. The program will also be held on the subsequent four professional development days; the next is Oct. 30. About 3,000 children from the 45,000-student school system are expected to participate, Hobson said. She said the city will not incur additional costs because workers at the centers will already be on duty and they will be joined by employees who staff after-school programs at some schools. Rhee was inundated with complaints this year when she initially proposed six professional development days on Wednesdays. Parents pooh-poohed the idea, worried about finding child care midweek. Around the country, education budgets are being cut, affecting school bus routes and the length of the school day, said James Martinez, a spokesman for the National PTA. "That throws parents for a loop," he said. Play day sounds pleasantly parent-friendly, Martinez said. Jones, a 44-year-old mother of a kindergartner, said her job gives her the flexibility to just take the day off. Amanda Bassow, a mother of two, is placing her children in a private mini-camp where they will learn African dance. She, too, was unaware of play day, though she is president of the PTA at the Capitol Hill Cluster School, which has three campuses and five educational programs. Mini-camps can be competitive, said Bassow, 40. "They fill up very quickly, and they are not cheap," she said. Bassow said she will be monitoring play day. "If it looks like they run a good program, sign me up," Bassow said. D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5), chairman of the Committee on Libraries, Parks and Recreation, said the city should have advertised the program more. "Nobody really knows how this play day is going to work," he said, adding that he supports the program as a service for working parents. Thomas said he was disappointed that Fenty is not applying the same philosophy to the recreation department's child-care centers, which the mayor is privatizing. The Fenty administration says privatization will save the city money. Thomas says that the cost savings has not been proved as required by law and that longtime workers are losing their jobs. hotezzy wrote: Fenty must support existing city workers especially when considering "privitizing" any city services. The poblen is that the city will still be paying foir those city workers who have no jobs in higher unemployment, healthcare, food stamps and other costs to support unemployed city workers many of whom were taxpayers -- so where would any savings be founds???? Contracting out city services only create sa sub-class of underpaid workers with few if any healthcare or insurance benefits and much lower wage jobs, essentially leading to wholesale exploitation if workers in this city. It is not the solution and does NOT CUT ANY COSTS IF THE NUMBERS ARE CLOSELY EXAMINED, as Thomas has already said. The city should support its existing day-care centers as wells making these rec. center play days wholesome activities for our children tion to participate in on a regular basis. 9/17/2009 11:55:54 AM Bitter_Bill wrote: That's going to be chaos. What is the child/adult ratio going to be? 50 to 1? Also, I see some strange people hanging out in the rec centers. Just sayin'. 9/17/2009 3:31:04 AM bbcrock wrote: Ok, nice idea, but how many DC Recreation centers are drug gang recruiting centers and the scene of frequent late night shootings? The answer is, every single one near where I live. So... I wouldn't dream of letting my kid near one. 9/17/2009 1:00:01 AM pentagon40 wrote: How can you hire teachers in the summer and terminate some soon???? you can't say you didn't have any idea when the budget shortfall had to be obvious to many...bad management all the way around by the DC Govt...This will make it extremely difficult come recruiting time next year..... 9/16/2009 11:25:50 PM candycane1 wrote: I wonder what that Friday will be like since it has been announced in mid September that teaching positions will be cut by October. WOW! BTW, if the council confirms the actng director of DPR, they are crazy. She's been on the job for seveal months and already in a major law suit! The September 9th hearing should have convinced them not to do another Reinoso. 9/16/2009 10:29:48 PM