Medford After School Crisis

Medford continues to grow and after-school care lags demand - here are the numbers to prove it. In 2022 there are fewer students in Medford after-school care than in 2018, 2019, or 2020. While enrollment has declined, demand has increased substantially. In 2019 there were 50 families on the waitlist. Today there are 144 families on the waitlist and over 78% of new applicants did not get into the program (all values from public records received March 24, 2022 and March 12, 2021). 

The lack of after-school care has enormous negative consequences for Medford.

  • It puts an immense burden on working families that leads parents, mainly women, to leave the workforce or work part-time to care for their kids
  • Children are being enrolled in private school simply to access after-school care, thus removing funding from the Medford school system
  • Families are choosing not to live in Medford or considering moving away
  • Families are finding individual private solutions – reducing resources that could be going to Medford, strengthening the social vibrancy of group child care, and the connections
    built through these programs. 

The Problem

Medford families are in the midst of a childcare crisis that is unique to Medford. 

It is costing Medford Public Schools revenue, it is costing Medford business revenue, it is crippling Medford families.

There is a serious and endemic shortage in afterschool care in Medford. MPS runs a lottery system to enter the afterschool program. This is because demand far outstrips supply. To provide continuity to families, once you're "in" the program you're in for all of Elementary school. 

The catch is that if you miss out you'll never get in. 

And you are going to miss out. Across Medford over 78% of families do not get into afterschool care. The wait list is currently over 140 families (the entire afterschool program supports 366 kids). 

You may say no big deal, I'll just go to a private provider. 

There is also no availability in private after school programs in Medford.

The two main providers (Graceworks and Salem St Karate) have waitlists just as long as MPS. You will not get into those either. Until something changes you will not have afterschool care for your child for 6 consecutive years, short of paying out of pocket for a private nanny or adjusting your schedule/work/life to be home by 3pm every day (1pm on Wedensdays!). 

Many families are caught completely off guard, and are being emotionally and financially crushed by this. The testimonials from families are heartbreaking. 

Unsurprisingly the childcare burden typically lands on women who may have their earning power permanently diminished by moving to part-time/flexible schedules. Many families switch to private schools purely due to afterschool care - and for every lost student there is the associated loss of state and federal funding going into the MPS. Over the course of a child's education this can be hundreds of thousands of dollars, all because of a lack of afterschool care.

We are also asking parents and allies to contact the mayor, the city council, and the school board to highlight the significance of this problem. Many families in Medford think they were "unlucky" to miss the lottery and are shocked when they hear there many dozens of families in the same position. 

Our core goal is to support the need for after school care for families across all of Medford. 

This is not an issue that exists to this degree in neighboring cities.  

Other Massachusetts cities are supporting working families.

Medford is failing to provide options for working families.