After School Program In Jeopardy Pending Town Approvals

Time may have run out on the Enfield Resources for Children, Inc. (ERfC) after-school program in Enfield Schools. The Enfield Town Council met Monday night and despite stated support for the effort, procedural issues stand in the way, making it unlikely the program can be in place for the September 6, 2011 start of the school year.

Because of the decision of the Board of Education to end their partnership with the after-school program, the ERfC is required to contract with the town for the use of the school buildings on its own. Before the Council can grant approval to enter into a lease agreement with the organization, the plan will require the blessing of the Planning and Zoning Commission and then come before a public hearing. With a light summer meeting schedule, as well as a likely 60-day process to obtain licenses from the State Department of Public Health, the likelihood of all the hurdles being cleared for September 6 remains a near impossibility.

Plans call for the addition of a before-school program at the various schools, but with the bureaucratic obstacles, even the after-school program's operations are in jeopardy.

ERfC Director Claire Hall stated, “For the last twelve years, we have operated in the schools...the component that is new and what was asked of us to bring in the schools is the before-school component.”

The Town Council for its part, took no action to forward the plan to Planning and Zoning pending receipt of a requested business plan from ERfC.

Deputy Mayor Ken Nelson expressed his frustration at the lack of information. “Do you have a business plan for us, tonight?” he asked pointedly.

Hall responded that the plan was being put together, as they were only informed of needing it on Saturday, and it was being culled together from the various plans the agency maintains. Nelson stated he couldn't properly vote to forward a request to Planning and Zoning without a plan in place.

Councilman Joseph Bosco remarked that though he is not against the program, he could not support any action without seeing in writing that the schools in his district would have access to it as well. Bosco represents District 1, which contains Harriet Beecher Stowe and Edgar H. Parkman schools, neither currently served by the ERfC after-school program.

“The kids in my district are being left out. I have a hard time supporting it, if all the kids aren't getting it. Kids from one side of town are no better than the kids from the other side of town,” Bosco said.

Given the unresolved issues, Mayor Scott Kaupin expressed doubt the necessary steps could be completed rapidly.

“If I were a betting man,” he said, “[the process] would be longer than a month.”

Council members insisted the ERfC was not being singled out, but that any agency seeking a long term lease for facilities usage must go through the process. The YWCA had also expressed interest in using school buildings for after-school programming, but needed final approval by June 30, 2011 in order to go forward. Given the necessity for PZC approval, that timeline could not be met.

Hall expressed regret that the program probably would not be able to start by the fall.

“We are going to press forward and do everything they ask for, and hope that it can go quicker than what they've outlined," she said. "We'll be there for the kids and families, just not with the timing we had hoped for. I believe being in the schools is the best situation for the kids. We've been in the schools a long time, and would like to continue to be there.”