Dear City Council,
 
I would like to request your review of the after-school care situation
in Menlo Park. Yesterday were found ourselves in the surprising
situation of being place on a wait list for after-school care
(Kindergarten) for our child for the 2007/08 school year. I had
approached Adela (Manager of the program) in January to inquire when
pre-registration would occur and had been told to check back late
February, early March. Last week we were warned by another family that
attends our current preschool program, that the registration would
coincide registration for Laurel School (note the lack of advertising of
the pre-registration date!).
 
So yesterday, my husband arrived at 6 am in the hope of pre-registring
our daughter. He was met by 9 other parents, some of which had slept in
front of the center overnight and many others followed. At 7:30 am we
were placed on the waitlist, as there were only 6 spots available for
families who do not currently have siblings attending the program. We
were also told that it would be unlikely that there would be a spot for
our daughter at the program and that we should seriously consider
finding a nanny!
 
Our older son has attended the Kindercats and Burgess program in
previous years and had a great experience. During that time we attended
many of the City Council meetings deliberating the building/renovation
of the current facilities to express the importance and need for quality
after-school care for families living in Menlo Park, when there were
members of the city council that did not consider this an important
service. (4 of our daughters current classmates in preschool were hoping
to enroll the Kindercats program next year!) I have investigated other
after-school care options in Menlo Park and the situation is dire. I
urge the Council to act by increasing Staff to accomodate the needs of
the many families living in the city, looking for quality after-school
care. Please pay attention to the changing demographics of the city,
which are also being felt by the school district at the Oak Knoll and
Laurel/Encinal Schools.
 
Regards,
 
Hermine Mante
112 chester street
 
 
 
Received on Tue Feb 6 20:37:58 2007