By Claudia Gohn
Several middle schools, including the Upper West Side’s Computer School, learned this month that the city plans to replace the organization currently contracted to provide their free after-school programming. The planned change has drawn sharp criticism from some parents, who praised the after-school programs overseen by the current provider, Manhattan Youth, a nonprofit childcare organization that has partnered with The Computer School for more than a decade.
A petition drive demanding reversal of the decision has drawn almost 5,000 signatures.
The decision, by the Department of Youth & Community Development (DYCD), affects The Computer School at 100 West 77th Street and at least one other UWS school, West End Secondary, at 227-243 West 61st Street, as well as other middle schools in Manhattan.
“My son came home yesterday from school saying all the kids were really upset about this,” said Martha Sciaraffo, president of the parent association at The Computer School and mother to both a current seventh grader and a recent graduate of the school. “They’ve been working with a lot of the same adults who organize the programs and coaches who work with all the sports teams. They’ve built a lot of trust and really a strong relationship with these grown-ups.”
Parents expressed strong support for Manhattan Youth’s after-school programming, which offers sports, musical theater, debate teams, and other activities. Some said the cancellations were particularly puzzling, since Manhattan Youth’s contract was renewed for after-school programming at other schools – such as The Anderson School, which is housed in the same building as The Computer School and has, until now, combined students from both institutions in its after-school theater program.
“We’re all wondering why,” said Lynda Todd, a mother of six including two graduates and two current students at Computer School. “We’re like, ‘Are people just trying to shake things up? Is this a political thing? Is this a ‘we’re just trying to rearrange things without actually following up with the schools that’s affected?’ We don’t know. But our children’s daily experience at Computer will change.”
Nothing is set in stone yet, though.
Thursday May 28 was the New York City Council’s executive budget hearing, where “the Committee on Children and Youth and the Committee on Finance [intended] to question DYCD more broadly about its handling of the after-school programming contracting process (among other key issues),” according to an email from City Council Speaker Julie Menin’s office shared with the Rag. “[It’s] reserved solely for testimony by DYCD and the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) to allow the Council enough time to question representatives from those two city agencies.”
The next step is another City Council executive budget hearing on June 10 when, unlike the May hearing, community members may weigh in on the decision. It is not clear what – if any – actions might follow that hearing.
The news that Manhattan Youth’s contract would not be renewed at The Computer School was received May 14 by Mona Williams-Miller, the group’s program director at the school. Williams-Miller was told that her program was being replaced by the YMCA as the new Community-Based Organization (CBO) in charge of The Computer School’s after-school program.
“My principal and assistant principal [were] very shocked,” Williams-Miller said. “She was confused. She didn’t know what was going on and was like ‘Well why would they send us some things for us to do a ranking and then not listen to our opinion or what we wanted if they were going to do what they wanted in the first place?’”
The proposed change disrupts a long-running tradition of middle school students at The Anderson School and The Computer School, who use the after-school program to develop a musical performance for friends, family, and community members. Students polish their performances while parents put together the costumes. For the most part, Manhattan Youth works separately with both Anderson and Computer, which each has its own program director, with the exception of the joint musical theater production.
Leading up to the big show (this year it was Shrek), students work with a music teacher, choreographer, costume designer, and tech director for hours after school, multiple times per week, thanks to the after-school program.
“There are seventh graders who have been looking forward to their eighth grade show for two full years,” said Kyle Hughes, who is an activity specialist for Manhattan Youth and runs the musical theater production at Anderson and Computer. Hughes mentioned the next musical they had planned to perform, but then asked to keep it a secret, with the hopes that they might still be able to do a reveal and performance with the kids. “We know their skill sets and how hard they’ve worked,” said Hughes. And now that musical is just not going to happen with us.”
According to reporting by Chalkbeat, a spokesperson for the Department of Youth & Community Development, which contracts after-school programming, said that more than 80% of schools received their first or second choice to run the programs. In an email statement to West Side Rag, a department spokesperson wrote: “The newly awarded community-based organizations will help expand access to high-quality after-school programming for students across the city. These providers bring demonstrated expertise, strong track records and the capacity to deliver enriching, safe and free programs while continuing to build strong relationships within school communities.”
While acknowledging that “transitions are challenging,” the statement said “Families can be reassured that programs will remain free, activities will continue to be enriching and safe, and the City and schools will work closely with the incoming providers to ensure a smooth transition.”
Jessica Shalom, The Computer School principal, sent an email to the school community following the decision not to renew Manhattan Youth’s contract there. In it, Shalom pointed to a lack of transparency in the process. “This decision was made through a DYCD (Department of Youth and Community Development) RFP process that lacked transparency and did not adequately reflect our school’s long-standing relationship with Manhattan Youth,” she wrote. “Despite our school clearly identifying Manhattan Youth as the best fit for our community, a different provider was selected.”
But even though The Computer School will continue to have after-school programming, parents worry that the quality of care might not be the same and that it will spell the end of the dynamic and the relationships already formed between Manhattan Youth, the school, and the students.
Amid the whirlwind has been a sea of compliments to Manhattan Youth from parents.
“Seeing the outpour has been nice because it’s like, ‘Wow we are valued and we do have an effect on those communities,’” said Clay Miller, the Manhattan Youth program director for the Anderson School. “You come into this job knowing that you’re making an impact but you don’t really feel it until you have a parent say to you ‘You’re doing amazing. Thank you so much for bringing all this opportunity to the school.’”
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That’s what happens when a new city council and city administration takes over. You get change whether you like it or not. Vote wisely.
This is what happens when a deeply ideological movement comes into power. It starts dismantling what works in favor or a “broader goal.”
O went to the Computer School, though awhile ago, and I also went to the YMCA for after school activities. Schools change but I have met kids who go to the Computer school now, and it doesn’t seem much different from when I went there
The YMCA really doesn’t seem like a great fit for the school
I wonder why
This was both a horrible decision in general and a horrible process. The school was blindsided and had no input – excluding the principal from the process is not OK. I am fairly sure this was not driven by finances.
The article does a nice job of summarizing much of the issue but does not sufficiently discuss the sports side of things – CS has a very robust athletics program that many students participate in, accommodating athletes of a wide variety of ability levels and backgrounds. The track and cross country teams have won numerous championships and many runners have gone on to very successful high school careers.
I know a number of families for whom the after school offerings at CS, particularly the athletics, were a driving factor in selecting the school. The programs have helped students form long-lasting friendships, develop new interests and skills, and have structure that helped them to excel socially and academically. And, as noted in the article, this particularly doesn’t make sense given that they are keeping Manhattan Youth for another school in the same building.
To just remove this at the 11th hour is not OK. Hopefully this can be reversed. Thank you to WSR for your coverage of this situation. Please follow up.
Families in other schools in Manhattan are upset too.
i wish the state and city would subsidize one parent to stay home with their children instead of subsidizing after school and preschool so that both parents can work. making it easier for both parents to work simply causes the cost of rents, food, etc., to increase. in the end, it doesn’t help families.
Thanks for your input! This working mom really loves being able to work and so does her husband. Our kids benefit from having parents who feel fulfilled. We’re very glad to be able to have school spaces where our kids can develop their own relationships and interests and then come back to the family unit where we all support each other as whole people.
Obviously it is so great if other parents choose to stay home with their kids and are happy in that choice! But being forced to stay home for lack of options would truly in our case only breed resentment and conflict and create tension in our home.
If both you and your husband love to work, that’s great!! I’m not going to get into an argument with you about the benefits of having a parent home rather than working. But here is the thing: I don’t want to subsidize two parents working because I don’t think it’s good for the kids. I only want to subsidize with my tax dollars a family where one of the parents is home with the children.
While I understand why parents are upset, it’s also important to look at the larger budget picture facing New York City. The city is dealing with significant fiscal pressures while continuing to expand programs and services, including universal early childhood education.
When new spending commitments are added, funding has to come from somewhere, and that can lead to difficult decisions elsewhere. The real question is whether the city’s priorities are aligned with the needs of the communities it serves and whether successful programs with strong community support should be disrupted in the process.
In this particular case, costs weren’t a factor in selecting the new CBO. Per student funding remains the same or higher with the new provider. The outrage is over the lack of transparency and community involvement in the selection process. The school administrator’s preference wasn’t heavily weighed and families weren’t consulted. Schools weren’t looked at on an individual basis during the process.
This is an issue all around Manhattan, as was stated above. It is not about the money. The City seems to be trying to diversify the program providers even though Manhattan Youth is the first solid after-school provider I have seen in my 20 years of teaching in a public middle school in Manhattan.
It’s always about the $. Why is anyone surprised?
This smells so fishy to me that suddenly YMCA is getting a bunch of contracts despite not being equipped nearly the same or having the connections in place. Why? What was the costs of Manhattan Youth, and what are the costs if YMCA? What’s included?
Why change something that works that’s been in place over a decade? There needs to be a high threshold of reasoning for such a change, ideally motivated by the parties involved (e.g. if there had been complaints), no such thing seems to have happened here so.. why? Who’s getting paid off here? Because I see no other possible legitimate reason this change is taking place. I’d love to see further investigation here