The Fayette County School System’s After School Program (ASP) is working toward adding two more schools to its growing list of nationally accredited programs.

The ASP at Fayetteville Intermediate and Spring Hill Elementary schools each received a $1,000 grant from the Georgia School Age Care Association (GSACA) to invest toward program improvement and national accreditation by the National After School Association (NAA). The programs at these schools were two of only 20 throughout the state to receive a mini-grant from GSACA for program improvement and accreditation support.

Fayette is the only public school system in Georgia that has NAA accredited after school programs. The program at North Fayette Elementary was the first to receive accreditation in 2002 and was the first to receive reaccredidation in 2006. The other schools with NAA accredited after school programs are Hood Avenue Primary, Crabapple Lane Elementary and Sara Harp Minter Elementary.

Schools earning accreditation have met School-Age Quality standards. Examples include meeting the developmentally different needs of youth, involving children and youth in program planning, providing positive interactions between children and youth and adults, and ensuring a safe and challenging environment for children and youth in out of school time.

To earn accreditation, a program must meet quality indicators for six distinct areas: 1) health and nutrition; 2) safety; 3) human relations and staffing; 4) indoor and outdoor environment; 5) program and activities and 6) administration.

According to the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, “students in quality after school programs have better academic performance, behavior and school attendance and greater expectations for the future.”

Fayette’s After School Program is an affordable, safe option that engages children in a wide variety of fun and creative activities such as arts and crafts, games, creative cooking, supervised outdoor/gym play, homework assistance, computer enrichment, drama/juggling, karate, cheerleading, jump ball, keyboarding and club participation.

The program has been in operation since 1987 and currently serves over 1,390 students in 17 elementary and five middle schools.

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