Second in a series
Re “Getting to Know the Office of Child Development and Its Good Secrets”
[img]1633|left|Audrey L. Stephens||no_popup[/img] As thousands of young parents have known for years, pre-school, once an after-thought, is big business in Culver City.
So large, says Audrey Stephens, executive director of the School District’s Office of Child Development, that “we have reached capacity – and there is a waiting list.”
After almost 30 years on the Farragut Drive campus, Ms. Stephens’s sense of humor never is more than easy walking distance from the surface.
“People keep asking us if we will provide after-school care at the (nearby) Middle School,” she says. “I am thinking they would like us to provide an after-school program that will go all the way into college. But we only go through the fifth grade.”
Turning to the math of accommodations, how are the programs divided, weighted, between pre-school, after-school, before-school?
“We have 300 pre-school students and almost 600 after-school, and another 200 before-school children,” Ms. Stephens said.
Is it accurate to say the pre-school dimension is the main event of the overall program, and the before- and after- programs are supplementary?
“Exactly. And in those other two programs, we augment what is going on in the elementary schools. We provide enrichment. We provide extended learning. During the winter break and the spring break, we provide full-day camp programs. In the summer, we offer enrichment programs for our after-school-age children.”
Ms. Stephens repeatedly emphasized that in the after-school sessions – from 3 o’clock to 6 – the accent is not on recreation but academics – in a stimulating environment.
“After-school is cool,” she says in a language any generation understands. “After-school is a nice place to be with extended learning,” and when you are sharing a space with Ms. Stephens’s bubbling-over enthusiasm, you can be sure she is not exaggerating.
There is an unmistakable impression that the hundreds of children are being instructed by teachers who are electrified with commitment and dedication – if they resemble Ms. Stephens.
“We provide homework assistance, and we do enrichment,” she says.
Not free-form learning, either.
“Our after-school like our pre-school program is held to state content standards. There is a standard and there is a curriculum by which you must run your after-school programs so that you will augment the learning that goes on during the day.
“For example, if the schools are talking about missions, we are going to talk about missions, too,” Ms. Stephens said, and a gleam lighted in her eyes.
“The difference, though, is that we are going to get on the bus and actually go to see the missions.”
(To be continued)
