Juneau School District ending RALLY, plans to have private provider offer new after-school program
- Mark Sabbatini
- Jul 1
- 3 min read
Ongoing staff challenges result in decision to end program for elementary students ages 5 to 12
The Juneau School District’s RALLY program is ending Aug. 8 and an agreement is being reached with a private childcare provider to ensure an after-school option for younger students is available, district officials said Tuesday.
Ongoing staffing challenges resulted in district officials asking local childcare providers about providing after-school programs, according to Kristin Bartlett, the district’s chief of staff. About 120 students are enrolled in the RALLY program both during the school year and during the summer.
The summer program was already scheduled to end Aug. 8, but now the district is halting RALLY completely, she wrote in an email sent to parents and others affiliated with the program. Auke Lake Preschool, a licensed local provider, is expressing interest and "we plan to lease them space in our schools to continue to offer an after-school, licensed childcare option to our JSD families."
"The new after-school care provider will operate independent of the Juneau School District, and the district will not include additional conditions or requirements in the agreement," Bartlett wrote in a separate email to the Juneau Independent.
Details such as cost, specific care and activity offerings, and other specifics are still being worked out, according to Bartlett.
"More information will be sent to all current RALLY families and all JSD elementary families through our Blackboard communication system as details become available," she wrote in her message to parents. "Enrollment and registration information will continue to be linked on the District website and shared with JSD families during the transition.
Attempts by the Juneau Independent to contact Auke Lake Preschool on Tuesday afternoon were not immediately successful.
Staffing shortages are affecting multiple school district programs, due in large part to budget uncertainties that during the past few years have also affected public sector workforces including hospitals and Alaska’s state government. A general lack of childcare programs has been cited in recent regional and local economic studies as a primary factor in struggling to recruit and retain workers.
RALLY is being offered at three Juneau elementary schools, with the program already cancelled previously at a fourth. Its website lists activities such as beach and swimming field trips, scavenger hunts, library visits and a July 3 RALLY walking parade.
The staffing and financial challenges of the RALLY program were known, as were the discussions about options private operators might be able to provide, Britteny Cioni-Haywood, chair of the Juneau Board of Education’s Finance Committee, said Tuesday. But the district administration’s decision to end the program wasn’t known until Monday,
"With the limited information that I have on this currently I hope that this is a good solution and that the transition is smooth," she said. "I do think that having after-school care for younger children is essential in this community because a lot of parents — given the economy in Juneau — a lot of households have to have two working parents or guardians. And so I just hope, again, that this all goes smoothly."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
