One Lexington parks after-school program shuts down over staffing, background checks
An after-school program run by the Lexington Parks and Recreation Department was shut down this week due to staffing and background check issues, city officials confirmed this week.
The extended school program at Athens-Chilesburg Elementary opened Aug. 11 but was shut down Tuesday because of too few staff and not enough staff had passed background fingerprint checks, said Harold Kouns, director of extended school programming for Lexington Parks and Recreation.
Parks had originally been told by the Cabinet for Family and Health Services Division of Child Care on July 29 that a 90-day grace period for fingerprint checks had been extended until the end of September, Kouns said. But they later learned that was not true.
“As the fingerprints take a while to process, our staff members were operating with one background check while the second fingerprint check was processing,” Kouns said.
Fingerprint background checks are required for staff working in child care facilities. The computer system that processes those background checks has experienced problems, he said.
Susan Dunlap, a spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said there was a misunderstanding about the finger print background check.
“When the background check system re-opened, we had given a grace period of 90 days for all providers hired during the pandemic to be able to get their fingerprints done,” Dunlap said. “All providers had paper background checks in place, even without the fingerprint portion. We learned that several after-school programs misinterpreted that grace period and thought that someone could work in the childcare program for 90 days without a background check.”
Kouns said they are working to correct the background check issue.
“Our program takes every step to protect children’s safety, and we are working with DCC to insure we are in compliance and open to serve our families,” Kouns said. “ESP is currently hiring, getting the mandatory record checks and training staff in an effort to make this closure very short. “
The program serves 96 kids.
Another extended school program at Northern Elementary did not open this year due to a lack of attendees, Kouns said. The parks department operates after-school programs at six elementary schools, including Athens-Chilesburg.
Lack of adequate staff has plagued multiple school-related services, including busing. A shortage of bus drivers has led Fayette County Public School to cancel or delay multiple bus routes since school began earlier this month.
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 11:44 AM.
