Boys and Girls Club to close school sites

MAT-SU -- A lack of funding is forcing the Boys and Girls Club to close its Mat-Su school programs next year, but one elementary school is not giving up without a fight.

In November, officials with the local Boys and Girls Club learned that they had failed to win a 21st Century Grant they had hoped would fund their five Mat-Su elementary school programs at Goose Bay, Sutton, Swanson, Iditarod and Finger Lake. The grants would have provided $200,000 per year for as many as five years.

"We had not only wanted to continue with the schools we had, but also expand into a couple of other schools," said Fran O'Shea, branch manager of the local Boys and Girls Club.

Instead, the group was nearly forced to close all its Valley school sites part way through the winter. The Anchorage Boys and Girls Club was able to identify funds to keep the Mat-Su sites open for the rest of the school year, with hopes of causing as little disruption for children and parents as possible. That was only a temporary solution, however, and when school lets out this summer the programs will close permanently.

But not if Goose Bay Elementary has anything to say about it.

"This program has made a huge difference over here," said Goose Bay principal Erin Aulman. She said the before- and after-school program enables parents to drop their children off at the school as early as 7 a.m. and pick them up as late as 7 p.m. During that time, the children are involved in a variety of activities that Aulman says enhances their education.

"There's lots of stuff going on," she said. "The staff for the Boys and Girls Club here are tuned in to the regular teaching staff."

She said in cases where students are unable to get their homework done at home because of family distractions, the Boys and Girls Club program has enabled them to stay on track.

"The Boys and Girls Club staff has a homework section in the afternoon where they make sure kids get done what they need to get done," Aulman said. "It stays in this loop."

When families and school staff learned they would be losing this program, which serves about 65 students at the school, Aulman said they decided to do something about it. With the help of fund-raisers and grant possibilities, Aulman says they are hoping to come up with $10,000 to $20,000 to keep the program going.

"We have lists [of fund-raising ideas] and a lot of enthusiasm from parents about picking up part of the action," Aulman said.

Aulman admits they have a relatively small window of opportunity -- the school would need to raise the funds before summer break. But she said it has become a PTA and staff priority.

"It's really important to this community," Aulman said. "And we're hoping the whole community will see the benefit to society … and help us out. It's pretty hard for this community to earn that kind of money in that kind of time."

Goose Bay isn't the only school concerned about the prospect of losing the program, but O'Shea said sites that are closer to the core area may have more options. She said the club is looking at busing some of the more than 500 elementary students to and from the group's clubhouse on Bogard Road. Parents would then be able to pick up their children or drop them off there. Another option may be the M.A.S.C.O.T. community busing system.

"I know the schools are unhappy," O'Shea said. "We are going to try to pick up the slack in other ways."

O'Shea admitted, however, that the busing plan will not work for schools such as Goose Bay that are located too far from the clubhouse. In addition, she said she feels there was an advantage to having the program in the schools, and she said the club's grant program is working to come up with other funding options.

"We feel strongly the school outreach program is successful in a lot of ways," O'Shea said. "Its successful because these kids are in their schools; they are in their comfortable environment."

In addition, she said the ability of club staff to work closely with teachers makes it easier to help students with homework and projects.

In addition to homework time, the school programs offer tutoring and fitness and academic programs.

The Boys and Girls Club moved into local schools in 2000, opening five programs that served children from 10 different schools. For example, students from Sherrod attended the program at Swanson.

While many see the program as valuable, the Mat-Su Borough School District's decision to allow the club into schools was controversial. Because the program is relatively cheaper than daycare and offers a sliding-scale fee for families with low incomes, several local daycare providers claimed the district was unfairly competing with their businesses.