By Nicole Falco
The Enrichment After School Everyday (EASE) program, was started in September 1990 to provide a safe environment for working parents to entrust their children. It began with four children and has grown to include more than 50 regular attendees. Participants can come once a week or five days a week, before school, stay after school or both. The program runs mornings from 7 a.m. to the start of school, and afternoons from dismissal to 6 p.m. The daily costs are $7 per child in the morning and $10 per child in the afternoons. According to Lisa Blackman, EASE director, the program fee has only been raised $1 since its inception. While Howell provides the location for the program, it is not subsidized by the district or PTA. It is funded entirely through program fees and various fund-raisers held throughout the year. Howell Road is the only school in District 13 that offers EASE. SCOPE runs the morning and after school programs at the Wheeler Avenue, Willow Road and James A. Dever schools.
"When we examined the program we didn't feel the need to change the program because it's a great program and has been really successful there," said District 13 Superintendent of Schools Dr. Elizabeth Lison. "You would think we would strive for uniformity [of after school programs in the district], but why change it when everything is working so well. Howell Road equals EASE."
According to Blackman, a certified teacher and emergency medical technician, EASE is meant to be an extension of the school day for the kindergarten through sixth-grade students who participate. Blackman and her staff, all of whom hold bachelor's degree in education, act as liaisons between teachers and parents. Children who participate in the morning are served breakfast. The afternoon often begins with supervised homework time, followed by a snack and a planned educational activity, arts and crafts or a computer workshop. Participants are also given time to play in the school yard (weather permitting) or gym.
"Everything that we do at the program has some kind of learning process," Blackman said. "Sometimes we are graphing cereals or our favorite soups, or we are using our imaginations and writing a book. We have done so many different projects throughout the years and the ideas just keep coming."
EASE regularly welcomes visitors including a sign language teacher, astronaut and scientist. "We try to make it fun for the children," Blackman said. "Through the years I've given my heart and soul to this program. The children are my main concern."
The children have fun while learning, Blackman said. Students learned about measurements while helping to cook a Thanksgiving feast of turkey and macaroni and cheese, or they learned about giving back while collecting donations for the victims of Hurricane Katrina when they went trick-or-treating on Halloween.
Michele, a Howell Road sixth-grader who has been coming to EASE since the second grade, summed up his feelings about the program. "When our moms and dads pick us up from school they are not at all stressed out. They know they can even stay at work longer. We get to do our homework."
Crystal, a sixth-grader who has been coming for three years, added, "We get to spend time with our friends, too."
