School Age Child Care Essay Research Paper

School Age Child Care Essay, Research Paper

Implementing a School Age Child Care (SACC) Program

Graduate Department of Education

Identification of the problem

According to the Florida Educational Research Council,

in 1955, 60% of all households were traditional type families

(Davies,Topping & Koon, 1989). While dad was at work, mom

was at home cooking and cleaning for the family. Today less

than 7% of all households fit this pattern. The need for

child care, and specifically, School Age Child Care (SACC) is

a fact of life today. There is hard evidence that supports

this need. Seventy percent of the working age women are

employed in the work force today (Davies et al., 1989).

XXXXX Community Elementary School is comprised of 1500

students. XXXX is situated among affluent communities of

Boca Raton. There are a number of private day cares that

transport 100 students to their centers for supervision

during after school hours. Presently, however, there is an

unknown number of students that also require supervision

during after school hours but are not receiving it. Because

there is no program available at XXXX Elementary School,

these children are part of the 4 million “latchkey” children

in the United States today (Davies et al., 1989). Latchkey

children sometimes wear a key around their neck and always go

home to an empty house. My job as principal begins here as I

address the problem of “latchkey” students at my school. I

must research the situation, and provide a solution that will

meet the needs of the school and community. By researching

present child care information, seeking input from my staff,

checking with the business community, and conducting a parent

need assessment survey, I can begin to address this problem.

Before contacting parents, a review of the current

literature available on School Age Child Care is the first

step necessary to make a decision regarding child care

services at XXXX Community Elementary School. Because

gathering this information is time consuming, a fact finding

committee, headed by one of the two Assistant Principals, was

formed in January, 1991 to expedite this review and a summary

of its findings follows. According to Pamela Mason of the

Florida Department of Education (1991), there are 912,000

school age children who need child care. Private centers

accommodate 460,000, public schools provide for 80,000, but

there are still 364,000 children under twelve without

supervision during the after school hours in Florida. Child

care shortages negatively affect children. Aside from low

academic achievement, latchkey children seem to be more

fearful than other children. Their outdoor playtime and

social relationships are severely restricted. Self-care

children appear to be at risk and are more likely to be

victims of accidents, which are a leading cause of death

among children (Seligson, Genser, Gannett, & Gray, 1983). At

this point it appears that School Age Child Care is a valid

concern for parents of the students at Verde Elementary

School. A meeting to involve the faculty and further study

of the situation is necessary and is scheduled for February,

1991.

At the faculty meeting the principal suggests the

prospect of providing child care services for the school and/

or community. The principal realizes it is necessary to get

the support of the faculty and staff if the program is to be

successful. Some of the items on the agenda include:

1. initial parental concern for latchkey students

2. discussion of the pros and cons as seen by the

faculty

3. review of the initial committee’s findings

4. need for further investigation by additional

committees

At the conclusion of the faculty meeting, 4 additional six

member committees have been formed. Each committee will have

one chairperson, appointed by the principal, who will be

responsible for maintaining cohesiveness and reporting the

findings of the committee. Each committee will meet weekly

and report its findings to the faculty and principal at the

end of six weeks. The function of the five committees will

be as follows:

Committee #1 – Fact Finding

This committee will continue to review the current child care

policies using the professional library for assistance. The

committee will continue to research Palm Beach County’s

guidelines for establishing a School Age Child Care program

within a school and share the findings with the other

committees.

Committee #2 – Parent Survey

This committee will meet with the school’s Parent Association

and enlist its assistance so that an exact number of children

requiring child care services is ascertained. The parents of

the 1500 stud

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