Brunswick Co. after school programs filling up after CIS program ends

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Some after school programs in Brunswick County have waiting lists after a surprise announcement from Communities in Schools yesterday.

Maureen Moore, or Miss Cookie to the kids, is the Program Director at Southport Parks and Recreation.

“We are full for this year,” Moore said.

She has had to start putting parents on a wait list.

“Right now, I have seven,” Moore said.

Moore said that does not usually happen.

“With CIS closing, they’ve been calling here to see if we have any room,” Moore said.

Program operations officer Bonnie Jordan said Communities in Schools provided morning and afternoon care at Belville, Southport and Town Creek elementary schools until now.

“The families have been great, the children, the schools are wonderful and we have wonderful, dedicated staff that have worked in these programs a long time, so it definitely was not a decision that came easy to us,” Jordan said.

Jordan said they need 20 full time students enrolled to support the program, but they only have five enrolled at two of the schools, and four at the other.

“We were stuck with the decision of do we make that decision prior to school starting or do we register and sign up kids and have parents drop them off next week and then, if we don’t get more children registered by the end of next week, after a week of starting child care, then do we say to parents, ‘Well, you have the weekend, because come the following Monday, you won’t have any child care,'” Jordan said.

Some parents have started a petition to get CIS to reopen.

“Someone putting down a signature to support a friend or support a school community is different than 20 full time students registering and making payment,” Jordan said.

Others are scrambling to find another program. The owners of King Tiger Tae Kwon Do in Leland said they have also been getting calls. They said they do have a couple more spots left.

“I’m like the parents,” Moore said. “It works in the school system, so you would never assume that it’s going to shut down. It was a surprise to me.”

Jordan said they are more than willing to take a look at the petition after it has all of the signatures, but she said they need the enrollment for anything to change.