ORONO, Maine — The after-school program operated by the town’s Parks and Recreation Department will not operate this year because of a lack of participants last year, but there are still options for parents, according to Town Manager Sophie Wilson.
“It reached very few residents,” Wilson said in an email. “It averaged approximately 15 daily participants last year, less than 6 percent of the elementary students enrolled at Asa Adams Elementary School.”
Parents at the school were informed of the change at the end of school in June in order to give them plenty of time to make arrangements before the fall, the town manager said.
“With our departure from the traditional after school program, we have worked to find and create opportunities for kids during the after school hours,” an email issued by the Recreation Department on Friday states.
Wilson said partnerships with the University of Maine Campus Recreation Department, Orono Public Library, Starwalk Stable and others provide some sort of after-school programming every day.
For example, FitKids Zumba is offered on Mondays, Jr. Rugby is offered Wednesdays and Fridays at the UMaine Rec Center and the French program is offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at Asa Adams School.
“This new format also allows staff the flexibility to change or introduce new programming to better meet the needs of area children as the school year progresses,” Wilson said.
Children in town already had access to two nearby after -chool programs, and a new after-school program in Veazie will start this fall.
“For those individuals that need the consistency and programming offered with a traditional after school program, we have worked with Old Town Parks and Recreation Afterschool and Old Town-Orono YMCA to ensure that Orono kids will continue to be welcomed and transported daily from Asa Adams,” the town manager said.
“We got confirmation [Thursday] that new Veazie Community School principal, Matt Cyr, has decided to run an afterschool program with the Bangor YMCA [to which] Orono residents will have access,” the rec department email states.