By Gus Saltonstall
Last June, a group of schools across New York City, including a pair of middle schools on the Upper West Side, learned they would lose their longtime, beloved after-school provider — Manhattan Youth.
A petition at the time garnered nearly 7,000 signatures urging the city to reconsider canceling Manhattan Youth’s contract to provide after-hours services for those schools, including The Computer School at 100 West 77th Street and West End Secondary at 227 West 61st Street.
“[Student] have been working with a lot of the same adults who organize the programs and coaches who work with all the sports teams,” Martha Sciaraffo, president of the parent association at The Computer School, told West Side Rag about Manhattan Youth in May. “They’ve built a lot of trust and really a strong relationship with these grown-ups.”
Manhattan Youth had worked with The Computer School for more than a decade.
The petition failed to change the decision, as Manhattan Youth lost their contracts, and the city selected the YMCA of Greater New York as the new after-school provider at The Computer School and West End Secondary for the 2026-27 calendar year.
- Read More: Parents Lament a City Decision to Replace the After-School Provider at an UWS Middle School
Now, less than a month into the new school year, the YMCA has withdrawn from its contracts serving the two Upper West Side schools, and Manhattan Youth is stepping back in, as confirmed by the city’s Department of Youth & Community Development, Upper West Side Councilmember Gale Brewer, and an email obtained by West Side Rag from Upper West Side District 3 Superintendent Reginald Higgins.
The YMCA’s decision to withdraw from its contract serving the two Upper West Side schools follows a meeting on September 21, organized by Brewer, between the after-school providers, the school’s principals, and Higgins.
“The issue centered around the want for competitive sports. The YMCA doesn’t do that. They do other great programs, but not that,” Brewer told the Rag, in a phone call. “I’m very happy the change is happening and again it’s not the Y’s fault. Thank God it’s Manhattan Youth coming back in.”
When asked about its decision to withdraw from its contracts to serve the pair of UWS schools, a spokesperson from the YMCA told Chalkbeat – “We were asked to provide comprehensive, multi-faceted programs that included leadership development, academic supports, arts, sports and more – not a singular competitive sports program or a musical theater program, but a comprehensive program.”
In notes from Higgins sent to families at both The Computer School and West End Secondary, he confirmed that the Department of Youth & Community Development had identified Manhattan Youth “as the next highest-ranked eligible CBO [Community-Based Organization] in that process” for the two schools.
The YMCA will remain as the after-school provider for the two Upper West Side schools until October 2, and “in the following weeks, school personnel will bridge services for families until the new provider transition,” according to Higgins.
Manhattan Youth will take over after-school services starting on October 19.
“Our priority is making sure young people are served, families have clear information, and these school communities have strong, stable after-school programs,” a Department of Youth & Community Development spokesperson told WSR. “It is what families deserve and what we will deliver.”
All of the students who already have a seat in the after-school programs at The Computer School and West End Secondary will continue to have a seat, Higgins reassured in his note.
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Manhattan youth is great!
Thank you, Gus, for keeping us all in the know about this vital part of children’s education.
Is that sarcasm? Because the classes rhey run after school are a vital part of children’s education IMO
This was handled really poorly – heads should roll. The schools made it very clear that they were very happy with their providers. They brought in a new provider that was incompetent. And the decision was made so late that there was no time to figure things out.
And it is nice that they are bringing back the old provider but at this point, many of those who worked at these schools have understandably gotten new jobs, so though Manhattan Youth is fortunately back, the schools are now scrambling and longstanding relationships have ended.
So the teams and activities that were led by teachers are largely OK (thanks in part to the tremendous dedication from these teachers), but everything else is a mess.
Thank you very much to the principals and other leadership of these schools who worked so hard to fix this. But it should not have happened in the first place.
And thanks to WSR for the helpful coverage!
You burried the lede
The afterschool program at atThe afterschool program at two Upper West Side middle schools is in shambles after a botched contract overhaul that was overseen by the Department of Youth and Community Development late last spring.
Now, the old program is back and will begin service starting October 19th. Problems, however, persist.
Thank you so much for this follow-up. We are THRILLED to be back with Manhattan Youth’s excellent programming!
I am unclear about a few things. What is an afterschool program? Who pays for it? Can everyone participate? Does everyone participate? Why doesn’t the school already provide whatever the after school program is providing? Is this because teacher’s unions don’t want to add work to teacher’s jobs?
A program that runs after school. Generally anyone can participate up to the program’s cap size. Some programs are restricted to kindergarten or higher grades because you need special licensing and different staffing ratios to work with preschoolers. Not everyone participates. Some children just go straight home after school.
Sometimes teachers work for these programs and sometimes not, depends if they have the time and want/need the extra money. The teachers’ day doesn’t end when the last bell rings, and they often have parent meetings, grading, lesson planning, trainings, etc. to work on before they finish their days.
Programs vary by school. Some are free and some are paid. There’s a traditional extended day program for kids whose parents work and cannot pick them up when the school day ends at ~2:30 p.m. These programs can be on site at the school or at a local community center. Kids can stay until 5:30 or 6 p.m. while they do homework, get a snack, read, do art projects, play games, play sports, and hang out with friends while supervised by adults. Costs range from free for subsidized programs like P.A.L. and Goddard to ~$350-500 month for paid programs like Kid in the Game and Manhattan Youth.
There are also specializes programs like chess teams, orchestras, leadership workshops, table tennis, languages, theater, sports, architecture, etc. These programs usually only run 1 or 2 days a week. They can also be free or paid. It depends on the school and the program. Some schools receive grants or donations to pay for after school programming. Some programming is run by nonprofits that offer scholarships to students who cannot afford program fee.
Excellent recap, Emily.
An afterschool.program is one that runs from about 3:00 to 6:00. While middle schoolers are old enough to be home alone for a while nobody thinks its a good idea foe them to be unsupervised every afternoon until Mom and Dad get home from work. At some schools they are free (paid for through donations or grants) while at others the parents pay depending on how many days their kid goes. Some have sports not available in school like fencing. Some have music or theater or musical theater and have a production at the end of the semester. These things are not available during the school day because there isn’t funding for more than one period of music and one period of art per week. And kids need to learn reading, writing, and rithmatic.
well, in any case you would not add an after school program to the job of teaching, has nothing to do with the union not wanting to add work..can your employer decide to have you do a second job after your day job ? That begins super early and is pretty demanding ? geez
“[Student]” should be “{Students].” “[Student] have” makes no sense.