Sioux Falls community learning centers providing engaging after-school programs for kids

Almost three months into the rollout of the new community learning centers in the Sioux Falls School District, the change has gone way smoother than Sarah Hanson had expected.

Hanson, who is managing director of children, youth and families for Volunteers of America in the Dakotas, oversees the VOA’s CLC partnerships at Terry Redlin, Hawthorne, Garfield, Laura Wilder, All-City/Jane Addams and Robert Frost Elementary Schools.

The VOA is one of four community providers that oversee CLC programs at each of the district’s elementary schools after the school day is done. The others include the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire, EmBe and the YMCA.

Community learning centers are a new initiative started this school year that runs off the framework set by Kids Inc., the district’s long-running after-school program, to collaborate with local nonprofits to run educational programs for afterschool care.

The Boys & Girls Clubs are at Anne Sullivan, Eugene Field A+, Harvey Dunn, Laura B. Anderson, Rosa Parks and Susan B. Anthony Elementary Schools; EmBe is at Cleveland, Discovery, John Harris, Lowell and Sonia Sotomayor Elementary Schools; and, the YMCA is at Hayward, John F. Kennedy, Oscar Howe, Renberg and Pettigrew Elementary Schools.

More: Report: More than 43% of students, almost 5% of staff in Sioux Falls School District are diverse

At Terry Redlin, for example, students come to the CLC after the bell rings, and after being in class for several hours, to have some free play time to run off steam from the school day. They get a snack, some recess time, and then some focused learning time in age-appropriate groups, Hanson explained.

There’s a strong academic focus in the program, Hanson said, which sometimes includes hands-on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities, practicing reading, or social skills, which are one of the biggest things they need to work on, she added. Then, parents usually pick up their children at about 5 p.m., or by 6 p.m. when the CLC closes.

Each CLC has a full-time connections coordinator who spends part of their day in the classroom alongside teachers overseeing students and what they learn in class, and then in the CLC working with the same students.

Kimberly LaPlante is the connections coordinator at Terry Redlin and said she likes that the CLC is part of the school and neighborhood and finds the kids and staff “amazing.”

“I love the CLC’s mission to be a hub for the neighborhood,” LaPlante said. “It addresses the whole child, family, neighborhood and community.”

More: Sioux Falls School District administrator shares ‘big picture’ for expanding after-school programming

Students are loving the CLCs, too. Erianna Jenkins, a 7-year-old second grade student at Terry Redlin, said she’s been coming to the CLC since the start of the school year, has made friends and has lots of fun after school.

She and her new friend Andrea Ramos, a 6-year-old first grader, build block towers together. Ramos said she likes her teachers at the CLC, the snacks they get, going outside for recess and playing with her friends.

Jenkins and Ramos are two of nearly 60 students who go to Terry Redlin’s CLC each day after school, Hanson said, and two of 375 students who are in one of the schools’ CLCs the VOA partners with. The CLCs were reported to have given an additional 500 district students a place to go after school this fall and introduced more tutoring options.

On Thursday afternoon at Terry Redline, the hustle and bustle of the CLC looked much like what Rebecca Wimmer, coordinator of community partnerships and afterschool programs for the district, envisioned for the new afterschool model almost a year ago when she started in her new position after serving as CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of the Sioux Empire for nearly seven years.

More: District updates ‘big picture’ for future of expanding after-school programs

“When you walk in there, you will have no idea which staff belong to a nonprofit, or which staff belong to the school district,” Wimmer said in a school board meeting Dec. 12, 2022. “You’ll have no idea which children … have their parents paying for the program. You have no idea which children are behind in their academics, which children have behaviors. All you see is kids engaged in after-school programming that are getting the same opportunities as every other child should get.”

Hanson said one of the big, less-expected benefits to the CLCs is that it also cuts down on transportation costs for the nonprofits, which usually transported students to and from their facilities for after school care. One of the complaints about the after school options before the CLCs were implemented was the cost of transportation as a barrier to access.

Now, students can just stay in the schools for their programming afterschool. Hanson said this also means parents can come to the schools knowing more about what their kids are up to after school.

The CLCs are funded through students’ tuition to attend the centers, grants, Title I funds, the city, United Way and matching resources from local donors and organizations, according to the school district’s website.

Elementary schools with existing community centers attached to the school — Anne Sullivan, Garfield, Harvey Dunn, Hayward and Oscar Howe — use that space for their CLC programming. The city continues to use the gymnasiums at those centers for adult volleyball and basketball leagues and tournaments, according to the school district’s website.

More: Future of Sioux Falls’ community centers is up to the city, not the school district

For middle schoolers, the YMCA offers an afterschool program at each middle school. From 3:30 to 8 p.m. each weekday, middle and high schoolers can also access the YMCA Downtown Community Youth Center

The Boys & Girls Clubs also provide transportation after school from Ben Reifel, Edison, George McGovern, Patrick Henry and Whittier Middle Schools to their Empower Campus and back home at the end of the evening as needed. High schoolers can attend with their own public or personal transportation.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls School District's community learning centers see early success