MADISON, Wis. — After the YMCA of Dane County told parents it won’t be able to staff some programs when classes resume, the executive director of the West Branch says it’s difficult to know options for some parents and students are not going to be available to start the school year due to staffing issues.
“This was gut-wrenching,” said Katie Martinelli. “This was not an easy thing for us to do.”
The Y is putting its after-school programs at Sunset, Sauk Trails, Northside, and Pope Farms Elementary Schools on “hiatus.” This will impact about 80 families, according to Martinelli.
“We had no other options,” said Martinelli. “We have been working diligently all summer to make sure this didn’t happen. We have not received applications or staff all summer long.”
Some parents have taken to social media to express their concerns about the closure.
“My boys aren’t in the program anymore because they’re both in middle school now, but we did use the YMCA after-school program when they were in elementary school. I don’t know what we would have done if it wasn’t available,” parent Katie Currier told News 3 Now in a Facebook direct message. “It was cost-effective and held right at the school. It was easy and convenient. Now parents are going to have to deal with wait lists and transportation.”
Martinelli said she understands the dilemma parents find themselves facing.
“I am a mother of two children myself,” said Martinelli. “I have two little boys. They are school-aged children as well. They have attended YMCA programming. We are not the only organization facing these problems.”
Heading into the school year, the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County has had to be creative with ways to get more employees.
“We had to adjust and invest more in our people by offering full health benefits, flexible works schedules, raising our hourly rate,” said Michael Johnson, the president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County. “A lot of childcare facilities are doing everything they can to retain people. It’s not easy.”
News 3 Now reached out to the Middleton-Cross Plains School District about how this will impact their district. The district responded with the following statement:
“The YMCA is a third party child care provider. While they contracted with our school district to rent space to run the program, it was solely staffed and led by the YMCA. It is not a program affiliated with our school district. Their program has provided a service for our district families, and it is unfortunate that they, like many other businesses, are struggling with staffing shortages.”
For its part, the YMCA doesn’t intend to just give up on the sites it had to suspend. It has paid job listings on its website and is waiting for someone to step up.
“We will turn these sites back open and we will be there for our families, just like we always have been,” said Martinelli.
However, with a nationwide issue impacting the entire industry, “back to school” doesn’t guarantee these programs will come back as the new year starts.
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