The Importance of Before and Aftercare

Council Corner

As the father of a six-year-old, I understand the challenges of juggling the schedules of both work and kids. With increased return to office mandates, the need for childcare, including before and aftercare, is becoming even more critical. Two of the main before and aftercare programs available to Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) students are run by the Columbia Association (CA) as well as the Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks. However, parents do not have a choice between these two programs: the program at a student’s assigned school is run by either CA or the county. In River Hill, both Clarksville and Swansfield elementary schools have CA before and aftercare programs, while the program at Pointers Run Elementary School is run by the Department of Recreation and Parks.

The fact that Howard County is one school system but has two parallel before and aftercare programs can be a source of confusion and frustration. The two programs have different registration timelines: the county’s general registration opened April 1, while CA’s general registration did not become available until the middle of May. In addition, both programs also have different fee structures: the county’s tuition for both morning and afternoon elementary school care is $489 per month, while CA charges $537 per month. I believe that CA and the county should work together to create more consistency between the two programs.

However, the biggest concern is the lack of sufficient capacity of both before and aftercare programs. At the time of this writing, most schools have significant wait lists including all three elementary schools serving the Village of River Hill. In fact, when Columbia Association’s program opened for general registration in the middle of May, every school served by CA had a waitlist. Similarly, most of the schools served by the county are also full. The primary issue is that these programs require additional staffing to raise their capacity, yet hiring qualified personnel has continued to be a significant challenge.

Securing necessary before and aftercare services can be very stressful for families. This has the potential to be further complicated by the upcoming HCPSS Boundary Review Process for the 2026-2027 school year. Therefore, there needs to be more urgency at both CA and the county to find solutions in order to meet the community’s need for childcare. After all it literally takes a village (or ten of them) to raise a child.

Eric Greenberg is the River Hill Representative to Columbia Council and the CA Board of Directors.

Email: Eric.Greenberg@ca-board.org.

Disclaimer: This column reflects the views of Eric Greenberg only and not those of the CA Board or the River Hill Board of Directors.