BATON ROUGE – The pandemic is changing school routines for many families. A lot of schools will be returning to a hybrid schedule forcing kids to stay at home two times a week. While some parents will be choosing to work from home on those days, others won’t have that option. The YMCA came up with a program to help.

“The primary responsibility is to help get their schoolwork and homework done,” said CEO Christian Engle.

The program is called Distance Learning Childcare. It differs from the normal after school program. Parents can drop their kids off all day, from 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. as needed. 

“We'll have staff available to help with homework. We’re going to be setting up a whole separate WiFi system for the kids and just making sure they have access to the work that they need, and provide as much support as we can,’ Engle said.

The kids will have to provide their own tablets to do their work on. Engle says they wanted to make sure their programs are evolving and align with parents' needs right now.

“We think it's important the kids are here or somewhere. We don't think it's best for a child to be at home alone. We think they can be in an environment where people can watch out for them, care for them and provide them outlets and fun activity with their friends,” said Engle.

The program is offered at five locations will each have room for 50 to 100 kids.

“We're getting a lot of phone calls. A couple of our locations are already at capacity just off of phone calls,” Engle said.

High demand as parents try to adjust and figure out what is the best way to navigate the upcoming school year.

The five locations are:

- A. C. Lewis YMCA

- Americana YMCA

- C. B. Pennington YMCA

- Paula G. Manship YMCA

- Dow Westside YMCA 

Prices vary based on membership. For those with a family YMCA membership the cost per week is $75, those with youth memberships will pay $125 and parents with no membership will pay $150.

Click here to register.