CMS to close 60 before- and after-school programs, lay off more than 200 staff members
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will close the majority of its before- and after-school programming sites and lay off more than 200 employees, citing declining enrollment and a significant funding shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beginning April 5, the district will close 60 of the 85 school-based sites, which provide childcare and learning opportunities for students before and after the school day. The closures are indefinite, but CMS leaders said they hope to reopen if demand increases in the future.
The district will keep 25 program sites open through the rest of the year. The sites were chosen to be equitably distributed throughout the county, said Chief Academic Officer Brian Kingsley.
The closures will mean layoffs for a large portion of the 303 people employed by the program. A total of 217 site-based staff will lose their jobs, as well as seven people who work in the district’s central office.
Kingsley said the layoffs are unavoidable because the after-school enrichment program, or ASEP, is mostly funded by program fees. While it receives some money from grants and federal sources, the largest source to run the program comes from parent fees.
Kingsley said the realities of the pandemic have lead to a decreased demand for the ASEP program and its before-school counterpart. Most families enrolled in the full-remote academy — more than 40% of the district’s students — do not need before- and after-school care on site, and parents who are working from home are less likely to send their kids to the program.
Enrollment in the program declined from 4,912 in the 2019-20 academic year to just 686 this year.
The before-school program enrollment declined from 1,974 in 2019-20 to 215 during the pandemic.
Kingsley said remote learning sites operated by community groups like the YMCA also have lessened the need for on-site care.
The ASEP program has had a $4.3 million deficit during the school year, Kingsley said. Revenue for the program dropped from over $8.5 million last year to just $274,305 this year.
Where students will go for care
The closures will impact 349 students in the after-school program and 128 in the before-school program. Some sites that will close have served as few as two students, Kingsley said.
Students can enroll in other learning sites, and Kingsley said the district will help families find alternative childcare.
“Our intent is when the demand begins to reflect prior year’s enrollments, we want to begin opening up all of our ASEP sites as rapidly as possible,” Kingsley said. “But... we simply don’t know when that demand will come back.”
CMS said staff members would be considered for openings within the district, such as substitute teaching and driving buses, if they are eligible.
The district is also partnering with the North Carolina Education Corps to fund positions like literacy tutors and contact tracers to support CMS schools, and staff who lose their jobs would be eligible for those positions.
“We’ve not yet seen all of the long-term impacts the pandemic will have on the district, our students and families,” Superintendent Earnest Winston said in a statement. “The After School Enrichment team has provided tremendous support for our community and we look forward to restoring this valuable program in the future.”
The remaining 25 sites, all at elementary schools, are: Bain, Ballantyne, Barnette, Blythe, Crown Point, Davidson, First Ward, Grand Oak, Hawk Ridge, Highland Renaissance, Hornets Nest, Idlewild, JH Gunn, Long Creek, Parkside, Paw Creek, Pineville, Providence Spring, Reedy Creek, River Oaks, Rivergate, Selwyn, Shamrock Gardens, Sharon and Winget Park.
