FAIRFIELD – The after-school programs at Pence and Washington elementary schools in Fairfield have received a grant for five more years of funding.

The federally funded program, called the 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant, began at Pence in 2018, when the school was receiving $60,000 per year to provide a daily after-school program. Katie Boatright, Fairfield’s fulltime director of after-school programming, said the federal grant is more than twice as large this time around because Fairfield has expanded its after-school program to include Washington Elementary.

The school district will receive $150,000 per year for three years to fund the two after-school programs at Pence and Washington, which will serve 20 students per grade from kindergarten through fourth grade, so 100 in all. The grant funding declines in years four and five, when Fairfield will receive $112,500 per year. Boatright said the goal will be to get community support to sustain the program after the grant runs out.

Parents of students at Washington or Pence should know there is still time to sign up for this year’s after-school program, with the signup deadline of Wednesday, Aug. 30. Signing up can be done on the school’s website at fairfieldsfuture.org under the “Parents” tab. There is no cost to participate. This year’s program runs from Sept. 5 through May 10. It meets for an hour before school, from 7:15-8:15 a.m. and includes breakfast, and for two hours after school from 3:30-5:30 p.m. with a snack.

Kids in the after-school program participate in games that keep them active and that challenge their brain. For instance, some of the physical activities include playing ping pong, a group activity with a giant parachute, and extra recess time. Educational activities include building a roller coaster for a marble, building with Legos, or learning a new skill.

“It’s not just free play. The kids think they’re just playing, but they’re also learning,” Boatright said. “It’s kind of like sneaking vegetables into their meals.”

Boatright said this year’s after-school program will feature more field trips and community partnerships, showing the kids all Jefferson County has to offer. They’ll do these field trips on Fairfield’s early out Fridays, which will be on the second and fourth Fridays of the month.

“Jefferson County Park and Revive Entertainment have agreed to let us come, and park and rec has agreed to some dates as well,” Boatright said. “Iowa State Bank is going to let us tour the bank. It will be great for kids to see some local businesses.”

Boatright said one of the joys of the program is exposing kids to things they don’t normally experience.

“When we started this, we took kids out to eat who had never been out to eat before,” she said.

To manage 20 kids from each grade, Boatright has a team of employees who help coordinate the activities. Ashley Bowers is the site supervisor at Pence, and Jennifer McLain is the newly hired site supervisor at Washington. On any given day, Boatright has three staff members working at Washington and four at Pence, though her pool of employees is larger than that because not all employees work every day.

“We’re always looking for more staff,” Boatright said. “Most of our staff are school employees who are working extra hours, but we also have a few community members come who work other jobs. We love to have high school students work with us, too. We had a whole bunch of seniors last year, and we’re going to sorely miss them.”

Boatright said she hopes to attract another crop of high school students to work with the after-school program this year. Students must be at least 16 to get paid, though any high school student can receive community service hours for their work with after-school.

In addition to the daily after-school program, Fairfield has after-school clubs for smaller groups. This has included a Girls Who Code club and a Crazy 8s Math Club, and Boatright said some other clubs could be started this year such as ones on baking, drama and sports.

“We are always looking for people willing to volunteer to lead a club,” Boatright said.

Boatright can be reached at katie.boatright@fairfieldsfuture.org.