St. Michael Catholic School has partnered with Kidventure’s Finale Afterschool Program since 2009; in 1994, Kidventure came to life, opening its first summer camp with the mission of creating an environment in which kids may succeed, learn, and grow to live a happy, healthy and responsible lifestyle. Through the years, this mission pushed Kidventure to look beyond summer and into other areas - afterschool care. 

Dear Kidventure After School Families,

We are excited to get back to running after school and seeing all of you in the next few weeks. We know, and understand, that some of you are ready to start while others have a lot of reservations and concerns as school approaches.  These are certainly unprecedented times and we are all learning new things every day as we go along.  For the past two months, Kidventure has been successfully running summer camps in Austin, Dallas, and Houston with over 15 different camp locations.  We learned much over the summer, had some bumps in the road, but all the smiles, laughter, and joy reminded us why camp is so important.  

 

With all the discussion of physical health and Covid-19, we can’t forget the importance of social, emotional, and mental health of our kids.   Re-engaging in community, in camp, in school fills a void that many of our kids have missed over the last several months.  We are excited to be a part of this step for each of you and we want to share our plan so that you're comfortable sending your child to Kidventure After School. 

 

We all know that this year is going to be different.  We are working very closely with our schools to extend their policies into the after the school day.  The same Covid-19 protocols will be extended in the after the school day for staff and students some of which include:

• Isolating groups/pods set in the school day.  

• The same symptom and exposure protocols

• Cleaning and disinfecting high touch points in rooms and bathrooms

 

WHAT’S CHANGING

Due to the pandemic, there are several things that are changing in the after school program:

1. We will have more staff to accommodate the number of pods/cohorts set by the school.

2. We will have additional staff to help clean and disinfect with built-in substitutes to ensure the non-mixing of groups.

3. We will be washing hands frequently, throughout the after school program.

4. Parents will not be allowed to walk in to pick up their children.  All pick up will happen curbside from your vehicle.  

5. There is only one option for After School this year.  Registration is by the semester only.  

   1. We are asking that all families register for the semester and to not pay in full but register for the payment plan, which will bill on a weekly basis.  If the system is asking you to pay more than a $10 deposit, please call the Houston Office at 713.960.8989.

   2. Please save your card on file, with the potential on/off schedule for this year, saving your card on file allows us to appropriately pause and unpause billing in a timely manner to keep your account up to date.

   3. Each week will be billed the previous Thursday.  Once billed, all payments are non-refundable. No prorations will be given for partial weeks.  

   4. In the event of a closure or quarantine resulting in missing an entire week or weeks, we will pause the weekly billing, adjust the overall balance due, and resume the payment plan upon return to the program.

   5. Price increase.  We worked hard not to pass on a price increase, but the extras needed to run safely during the pandemic necessitated it.  Every program is seeing a price increase please see the website for details HERE.  

6. No drop-in care will be provided this school year.  Due to the planning and placement of students in pods, drop-ins will not be available to ensure pods/cohorts do not mix and we can adequately plan for staffing.  If you are not enrolled in after school for the semester, please make plans to arrange for your child to be picked up from school everyday.

7. No Encore, enrichment classes, due to the increased exposure and mixing of groups.

 

CREDIT BALANCES

If you have a credit balance on your Kidventure account from after school or summer, we want to make sure we apply this properly to your account.  We are attaching a financial statement for the credit balance season, if you have a credit balance you will see that amount in the “PAID” column.  Do not look at the amount due.  If you have a balance, we will automatically apply this to your weekly payment for after school.  Once depleted, we will resume charges on your credit card.  IMPORTANT: You must register and pay the $10 deposit to secure your spot for Kidventure after school.  This will get you in the system and let us know you want to participate in the after school program.

 

One of the biggest things we know is that it will take all of us working together.  Over the last two months a great part of our success has been everyone working together to follow the policies and procedures set forth.  Together, we know that we can have a great re-entry into after school.  There is a lot more information on the website with details about each program and our procedures for Covid-19.  We hope this communication answers a lot of questions that you have about the program, but if you have further questions please do not hesitate to contact us in the Houston Office at 713.960.8989 or at houston@kidventure.com.

 

Stay Safe and Well! 

Kathleen Vigreux
Program Director, Kidventure 
713.960.8989
kathleen @kidventure.com