Before School Care Options for Oakland Unified
I’m a single mom to my seven year old daughter who’s in Oakland Unified School District. Her school starts at 8:30 every morning but I need some sort of before school care for her because my work starts earlier than that. I’ve tried asking the school staff, emailing the district, contacting the local YMCA and BANANAS, but no one seems to have any solutions. Just curious to see what other parents in my situation have done.
I’m getting desperate to the point I’m trying to move to Berkeley or Alameda because their school districts offer more hours of care.
Jan 11, 2019
Parent Replies
Hi, I know my child’s OUSD school has before care. He goes to Piedmont Avenue Elementary School.
I guess this must vary by school. I have 2 kids in OUSD and our school offers a (paid) before care option starting at 7 am. We don't use it very often, but as a working parent, I can't imagine not having the option.
This is probably not as helpful as you would like it to be, however, I attended OUSD as a child and my mom had a similar situation. She reached out to the school staff where I would be attending to see if there were any parents of students who offered before school care or would be interested in earning money watching me before school started. It turned out there were a host of before and after school home daycares within walking distance of our school that were able to support her. None of them were free unfortunately.
You don't mention which school, and it matters. Lakeshore Children's Center provides before and after care with van drop-offs and pickups to Cleveland and Crocker Highlands elementary schools. Historically Glenview too, but I don't know how that's working with the school's current temporary location.
My child is out of school, so my information may be out of date. When my daughter was in school, and I spoke to parents with children at other schools, the before-school options varied from school to school. Some had Adventure Time facilities on campus (my daughter's did) that opened about an hour to 90 minutes before the school day started. You don't say which Oakland school your daughter attends, so it might be difficult for someone to make appropriate recommendations.
Hi there - our school, Peralta Elementary, offers pre-care via the PPTG (Parent Teacher Group) Maybe something to talk to the PTG at your school about ?
Post a job for the before school time on Care.com or Localwise.com.