After School Program for Emerson TK Student
Just yesterday we received an offer for our neighborhood school, Emerson Elementary in OUSD. While it's nice that Emerson is conveniently located to our rental home, we are still on the waitlist for Melrose Leadership Academy, a dual immersion school. My daughter is half Latina and we are working to maintain a solid connection with her Salvadoran side (many of them only speak Spanish) and being at a dual immersion school would be such a blessing for our family. Unfortunately we are #13 on the waitlist for MLA so I want to start doing the research necessary, as though she will be attending Emerson. I see on their website that they have an on-site after school program and an off-site afterschool program. I would love to hear from parents who had experiences at either of these. Or, even better, parents who have their kids in a nearby Spanish after school program that isn't affiliated with the school.
Parent Replies
Hi! My kids go to MLA. I would say that #13 isn’t bad. You might get in! Although I realize TK is only one class so that is a harder waitlist to move up than other grades. You could always apply again for kínder.
What I can share is that aftercare at MLA is full. They are trying to expand capacity but it is waitlisted already. If you get in for TK you’ll likely have to figure out an off campus aftercare.
If you do apply for her for kínder next year, I’d enroll in mla aftercare just in case. It comes out in March/april. I did that when my kid was waitlisted for kínder and he got into MLA in the first week of school. I was so glad we had a spot for aftercare already!
As for Emerson, I have friends with second graders who go to Studio One for aftercare and like it.
Hope that helps!
Hi there! Congrats on the offer to Emerson - it's been such a sweet school for our kindergartener!
My kid went to Colibri Preschool on Piedmont Ave, which is full Spanish immersion, and they have an associated aftercare called Creative Spanish. M has been going there two days a week and enjoys it, although I'm not sure how structured the program is honestly!
The other thing is you'd have to figure out transport to the aftercare yourself (which is why we only do two days a week!).
The other 3 days M is at the studio one aftercare (the off campus aftercare you mentioned). I think it's great for kids who love art - M is kind of tiring of it.
Hope that helps!
Hi! My TK kiddo is at Emerson and we love it. The onsite afterschool program is great and best of all it's free. We were able to sign up the week before school started (unlike my other kid's OUSD school where we were on a waitlist and didn't get into afterschool until November- and also have to pay for it). My daughter has a "Girl Science" class on Mondays at afterschool and a dance class by Destiny Arts on Wednesdays. There are other activities too- those are the ones that I remember.
Emerson is a fantastic school with a very high teacher retention rate and a very involved family community. My kid is a kindergartner there and we can’t say enough good things about it. She’s also been in both after school programs. Studio One has two art classes every afternoon, taught by teaching artists (some of whom went to Studio One as kids!), with play breaks and snacks between classes. Enrollment is $600/month but they have a generous scholarship program with up to 90% discounts. Families are invited to the student showcase at the end of the year. The on-site care is also great, and has some scheduling activities and more free play time, which a lot of kids love; our kid needs structure so we moved her to Studio One once we realized we could get a scholarship. The on-site program also hosts a couple of family dances every year. Also worth noting that S1 is literally across the street, so the staff just comes and gets the kids at the end of the school day; no parent transportation needed.
I know one family who has their kid enrolled in the after school program at Creative Spanish, but it’s offsite and requires a parent to come get the kid and take them there. Emerson has many Spanish-speaking families and Spanish-speaking staff, as well as annual events aimed toward Spanish speakers, but obviously that’s not the same as Spanish immersion. We had our kid in a Spanish immersion preschool prior to Emerson, and we also considered Melrose, but ultimately we made the decision at the most important thing to us was to have our kid be in our neighborhood school, and I think it was the right way to go. It’s made a huge difference for how involved our child feels in the school and the neighborhood to have a school that we can get to without having to get into the car, and to be able to organize play dates with fellow students easily without having to figure out city geography. Just something to consider. Good luck in your decision-making process. I don’t think you have a bad choice here!
Wow, thank you so much for all of the thoughtful responses. So happy to hear from a few parents who have had positive experiences at Emerson. I haven't met anyone who has their kids at this school yet. Many of my daughters friends are zoned for Chabot, with some sending their kids to EBI (which we looked into but cannot afford). I will look into Creative Spanish--my younger son will be starting at Colibri Preschool this coming Fall so I know who to reach out to!
@Meiseman, thank you for the tip on aftercare. I didn't realize it can be that competitive. We haven't moved on the waitlist for MLA since offers started being released in early Spring--I wish I was more optimistic but I'm not sure we'll get in.
Can't say enough good things about Emerson, the school community, and the teachers / administration. The TK teacher Mrs. Sellers is phenomenal! My child is just finishing TK and has had an amazing year; we are looking forward to starting kindergarten.
For the free onsite aftercare (called "Beyond the Bell"), registration for next year just opened. The school has copies of the printed application - if the building is open you can stop by to get one and fill it out. Or call the office to ask if they'd send it by email.
For the offsite Studio One aftercare (called "After School Arts Academy"), contact them to get on their list. They've said they'll offer registration to returning families by end of May, and to new families a few weeks later. This is a paid program, the monthly fee varies by how many days school is in session each month. For the 23-24 year it was $29.50 per day. Scholarships are available. My (not particularly art-focused) child goes to Studio One and loves it.
You can't go wrong with either choice. If you're interested in talking more with a current Emerson family, please reach out - happy to talk.