ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Changes to the fees for the district’s BLAST afterschool program for the 2026-27 school year were a hot topic of discussion with the USD 480 school board at its most recent meeting Monday evening.

The discussion began with parent Theresa Carrillo, who spoke during the Comments from the Floor portion of the meeting.

“I wanted to come before the board as a parent regarding this potential increase to the BLAST fees,” Carrillo said. “My husband and I are considered more among the middle-class income bracket, and with the projected increases in the fees that are being proposed, I assure you we would have to pull our son from the program if the fee increases end up being approved. Being in non-profit and government funding, I wanted to come and be sure the district is truly exhausting every possible option before cuts are made to that program completely and claiming it was due to a lack of participation. We do not utilize the full semester of BLAST, we don’t utilize it while my son is participating in basketball and has practice or during the school play season when he has rehearsals. One of the options I’m hoping will be discussed include class sizes for the BLAST program – I don’t know how all of the schools run their individual programs, but at my son’s school, we did see kind of a personality conflict in his program, so I asked him if I could come in and observe since he’s on the autism spectrum. When I went in, in his class, there were only five or six students, and we were paying for the entire thing. I would be okay if some of the smaller classes were combined to help make that more efficient.”

Carrillo mentioned some other options the district could consider. 

“Another option to consider, could the days BLAST runs be limited? It’s already not done on Fridays, so could it run Monday through Wednesday?” Carrillo suggested. “Or, could we utilize some parent engagement funds toward this? I know the district is always looking for ways to increase that engagement, so this could be a great way to do that. Or, could we utilize some type of intervention and let parents know what interventions are being used for students and what progress they’re making and how they could help at home? I know the program used the 21st CCLC grant for several years, and that grant is still available to be applied for, so could we partner with some other agency or entity or program and apply for it again? Are we utilizing all the resources available here in town? My husband and I use that program so we can work, and we have neighbors who also use the program for their children. I feel like there ways this program could be maintained. While my son might not be considered ‘high-risk’ economically speaking, he is considered ‘high-risk’ academically speaking due to his being on the autism spectrum, and he needs that afterschool supplement. Increasing the costs, for us, would be devastating, and a lot of other parents would say the same.”

The matter came up again as one of the last items of the agenda’s new business.

“USD 480 has provided an elementary afterschool program since 2013, when the district was first awarded a 21st CCLC grant.  The elementary schools have continued to operate an afterschool program without the 21st CCLC grant since 2017, and since the ending of the grant period, the district has charged a sliding fee per student based on lunch pay status,” Superintendent Dane Richardson said. “In reviewing the current cost of operating an afterschool program in all elementary buildings, it is proposed to increase the student payment fees for the 2026-27 school year. The total projected cost to run the BLAST afterschool program for a total of 100 days in the 2026-27 school year is  $262,000. At-Risk funds will be allocated for the afterschool program. Student fees will help cover approximately 25 percent of the cost to run the program. The current afterschool fees for students receiving free lunch is $60 per semester, students receiving reduced lunch is $75 per semester, and students receiving full price lunch $90 per semester. The updated BLAST afterschool program fees would be charged as follows: students receiving free lunch would be $100 per semester ($2 per day), students receiving reduced lunch would be $150 per semester ($3 per day), and students receiving full price lunch would be $200 per semester ($4 per day).”

“Do you feel, with that increase, we’ll continue to have as many students participating?” Board Vice President Sarah Thompson asked. “I don’t think we’ll increase the amount of money being brought in, I think the program will lose a lot of students because their parents can’t afford these proposed increases. I think there will be a big loss, and I don’t think this proposal will help at all.”

Discussion continued for several more minutes.

“We had that 21st CCLC grant before, why don’t we try for that again?” Thompson asked.

“We have applied for it, we just didn’t receive it,” Richardson said. “We did receive a School Improvement Grant. We apply for every grant possible – if there’s something that comes across our desk and we feel we’re not necessarily an expert in that grant area, we look for people who can help us write it. There will definitely be a move to have students qualify for accelerated because it fits with what’s already been talked about. Ultimately, we want to have a better strategy at what the structure looks like for the entire time, especially when it comes to reading and math.”

“But I think, with those numbers, the students who really need this intervention are not going to be able to take advantage of it because their parents don’t have that money,” Thompson said. “These proposed changes are a pretty big jump.”

After several more minutes of discussion and multiple other ideas introduced, the matter ultimately died due to the lack of a motion.

In the meeting’s other new business, the board approved the renewal of contracts with LINQ, Edgenuity and You Science and also approved agreements with Motor Mouth for speech therapy services, Davis Pest Control for pest control services, and Southwest Plains Regional Service Center. The board also approved the purchase of three new Sharp digital copiers for $37,740.