Before and After School Program addressing compliance issues

Maricopa Unified School District’s Before and After School Program hit a bump in an otherwise smooth road last week in regard to site licensing compliance.

Checking on licensing for the various elementary school facilities, Program Director Michael Muriett received notification from the Arizona Department of Health Services that three of the four sites for before and after school programs had not been licensed.

Santa Cruz Elementary, which opened Aug.13, is brand new and has never had a license. The license for Maricopa Elementary School at Alterra was still listed as the Honeycutt Ave. address for the previous Maricopa Elementary. Pima Butte, however, has not had a license in its two years of Before and After School Program operation.

According to Muriett, “DHS requires a license for any facility providing childcare for compensation.” This applies to any site caring for more than four children in a program.

The rules and regulations for all centers are identical. The Arizona DHS regulations note the following: “The total number of children allowed is based on the physical facility. Staff members are fingerprinted for a criminal background check. At all times the program should have at least one staff member on site who has current training in CPR and First Aid.”

Since Santa Rosa Elementary and the original Maricopa Elementary campus were licensed, the solution to eradicating this “bump” in the program’s road was to bus children to one of these two locations. The other option would be to close down the program, but for many Maricopa parents who rely on it for childcare, that was simply not feasible.

“We composed a communication to parents at Pima Butte and Maricopa Elementary and had it there when parents picked up children on Monday. We had parents read and sign the letter and indicate if they would pick up their child at Santa Rosa Elementary or the original Maricopa Elementary.” As an alternative, students can be transported by bus to their home school.

Staff members are trying to call and follow up in case some parents were missed; however, according to Muriett, “a majority of the children are daily attendees, and parents pick them up so they were informed.”

A similar communication went out to Santa Cruz parents Wednesday, indicating the change that will go into effect Monday after transportation is secured.

DHS currently takes up to 90 days to license a facility.

Photo by Amy Jamieson