A decision on which agency to hire is scheduled to be made at the school board’s June 14 meeting
By: Lea Kahn
Aiming to comply with recent amendments to the state public school contract law, the Lawrence Township Board of Education is seeking requests for proposals from child-care providers for the before-school and after-school programs.
The school board hopes to award a contract for after-school care at its June 14 meeting, said Superintendent of Schools Claire Sheff Kohn. The deadline to respond to the request for proposals is June 7. Service under the contract would begin in September.
Because the school district leases space in the four elementary schools and the Lawrence Intermediate School to the Princeton YWCA for the after-school programs, school board attorney David Carroll has advised the board to seek bids for the child-care program.
“School boards are entitled to seek requests for proposals for any contract. My recommendation is to do it here, based on my analysis of the amendments (to the state public school contract law) and on general legal principles governing public bodies,” Mr. Carroll said.
Dr. Kohn said the decision to send out requests for proposals for the after-school program was not prompted by an evaluation of the Princeton YWCA program.
“It should not be construed as dissatisfaction (with the YWCA) in any way. It is in response to the (amendments to) the law and the inquiries we have received over the years from parents who use the YWCA’s after-school program and parents who do not use it,” Dr. Kohn said.
“Some parents have asked us to look into other options. We started to look to see what is out there. There are a number of programs with good data. In some cases, children do better in school as a result of being in an after-school program,” she said.
Dr. Kohn said some parents are concerned whether the program operator is a for-profit company or a nonprofit agency. The Princeton YWCA, which has handled the after-school program for 14 years, is a nonprofit organization.
The public schools and other public entities have a variety of relationships that include for-profit and nonprofit groups, she said. The school buses and the cafeterias are operated by for-profit companies, for example.
“The bottom line for us is, is it good for the children? The YWCA has been serving the children well. At the same time, in the district, there is an expectation that we will intermittently look at things. In some respects, the new law is resulting in the process of looking at what options there are for parents,” she said.
School district officials are concerned about the quality of the program and the cost of the program as well, she said. The cost of the after-school program is a financial issue for parents. It is a major factor, but not the only factor, she said. The Princeton YWCA, for example, provides scholarships for children who qualify, she added.
“The things we care about most are the quality of the program for children, whether it provides a safe environment and a caring environment, whether the cost is reasonable for families, and a small student-to-staff ratio,” she said.
The request for proposal sets out several conditions that must be met by the successful child-care provider. It must be fully approved by the state Department of Youth and Family Services, and it must be licensed to conduct business in New Jersey. It must be “successfully providing these services” in other school districts in the state.
The child-care provider must ensure that all staff have “appropriate criminal background clearances” and any required certificates. It will be obliged to hire and train its own staff — with the understanding that the superintendent of schools may require the replacement of a staff member for any reason following “due process” procedures.
The contract between the child-care provider and the school board would call for the provider to reimburse the school board $100 each month for each school where services are provided in the first year of the three-year contract. The reimbursement would serve as a lease payment for using the building.
The reimbursements would increase each year of the contract.