Welcome to the Seattle ASE web site. This site is currently under development with the intention of providing access to the Bryant Elementary After School Enrichment Program for Fall 2016-17.
I am writing to update you about the arrangements for ASE classes sponsored by the PTSA at Bryant in the coming school year. I know that you must be anxious about the uncertainty related to planning your schedules. I apologize for not providing information earlier, but it has been a lengthy process to work out how the program will operate for 2016-17.
First some background. The biggest thing to impact the ASE program was the need for Bryant to find additional classroom space for the new school year, prompting the school to take back about half of the current daycare lease space for classroom use. This left the daycare with reduced capacity. The PTSA polled parents to determine whether priority should be given to maintenance of daycare or ASE capacity. Apparently the response was that the daycare should have priority. Consequently a new lease was negotiated with the daycare allowing out of school use of the cafeteria to the daycare to allow an increase in capacity. This means that the Cafeteria will no longer be available for ASE use.
The new bell times at Bryant also introduced a level of uncertainty. The new times will be 7:55 am – 2:05 pm. It is likely that many parents who used the ASE Program last year and picked up kids at say 4:45pm will be looking for options to fill the gap. One possibility would be to offer 2 hour classes or to provide a means to transfer to a second class after the first 1 hour class. However, there is no experience on which to base an estimate for the demand for such a plan. The new bell times also mean that teachers are still uncertain about how they will use their rooms. An earlier start means that it is not so easy for them to arrive at school early for prep activities. Some teachers may need to stay in their classrooms after school instead with a possible reduction in availability.
We do not have everything firmed up yet, but things look promising in terms of being able to provide similar ASE offerings as last year. I can let you know what we know so far. We have asked for feedback from vendors about what they can offer next year in terms of class topics and duration. We have heard back from most but not all.
We are fairly sure that Elaine Woodhouse will be able to offer the same classes as next year. The Wedgwood Drama group have told us that they do wish to return. They used the stage last year, which is no longer available to the ASE Program, but they are willing to use a classroom. Provided we can find a teacher to allow use of their room, Drama should be back for next year. They have told us that they prefer to have a 1 hour class. Elaine’s usual classes will be 1 hour. We still plan on providing a single 1 hour class running from about 3:35pm to which kids taking an earlier class can transfer. To keep things simple there will only be the one second hour class. We have not decided what the topic will be for that class yet though Minecraft is a strong contender because we have been promised the space in the Tech Lab.
