HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 As families prepare for the upcoming school year, parents in Hillsborough County are already signing up for after-school care\u2014and available spots are disappearing quickly.<\/p>\n
Open enrollment for Hillsborough County\u2019s after-school program began this week, with many locations already nearing capacity. County officials encourage parents to register as soon as possible if they plan to participate.<\/p>\n
The program offers a more affordable alternative to many traditional before- and after-school care providers. While some private programs can cost up to $90 per week for before- and after-school care, Hillsborough County\u2019s program charges a flat rate of $40 per week.<\/p>\n
At Keystone Park and Recreation Center in Odessa, one of the county\u2019s after-school sites, 38 of the program\u2019s 55 available spots for the fall had already been filled within days of registration opening. Staff expect the location to reach capacity by next week.<\/p>\n
County after-school programs provide transportation from participating schools and typically operate until 6 p.m. Students have time to complete homework, participate in sports and recreational activities, and enjoy supervised play.<\/p>\n
Anthony Malzone, a recreation specialist at Keystone Park and Recreation Center, said the program\u2019s affordability has made it increasingly popular with families.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn about exactly four minutes, we filled up for summer here. At different parks, it\u2019s been two minutes. And people are very, very on to because they know it\u2019s very cheap. It\u2019s very affordable,\u201d Malzone said.<\/p>\n
Each participating school is assigned to a designated county park, and that information is included during the application process.<\/p>\n
While some school-based HOST programs may offer lower rates for certain middle school students, county officials note that the flat-rate county program can provide significant savings for many families, particularly those with elementary-aged children or multiple children needing after-school care. In some cases, elementary school HOST programs can cost up to $75 per week for after-school care alone.<\/p>\n
The first day of school in Hillsborough County is Monday, Aug. 10. Parents interested in enrolling their children are encouraged to register as soon as possible before programs reach capacity. More information and enrollment details are available at hcfl.gov\/afterschool<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 As families prepare for the upcoming school year, parents in Hillsborough County are already…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[274,113,276,2635,115,135,137,136,278],"class_list":["post-332930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-top-stories","tag-education","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-jason-lanning","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}