CINCINNATI — Things are a little different this school year at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Cincinnati because of the pandemic.
“With the schools deciding to go all virtual this school year and now some of them are moving to a blended learning model—still half virtual half not—that presented a major problem for a lot of our parents,” said Bill Bresser, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Cincinnati.
And that’s why Bresser and his team decided to extend their hours from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“We had about six weeks to gear up as a big lift to hire 20 new staff people,” he said. “It’s a little uncomfortable, taking on unexpected expenses in a year when the philanthropic landscapes is kind of hazy.”
Throughout the day, the staff helps students with their virtual learning. But because of the pandemic, the student to teacher ratio went down from 15 to 1, to 9 to 1.
“The challenging part to having less students is that our site means one of the larger stand-alone sites typically serves 120 to 130 kids a day,” said Kevin Harrison, a Boys and Girls Club of Greater Cincinnati director. “So, cutting that down to 36—two groups of 36—we’re leaving a large part of our families out that we can’t serve under these guidelines.”
Despite the challenges, Harrison says there are some benefits to smaller class sizes.
“You get a lot more one-on-one attention to certain to certain kids, and (that’s) not just the case with the families as well,” said Harrison. “So, it’s (what) can we do normally, but we get a lot deeper dive into the day because the ratios are so much smaller.”
He says he feels good knowing they can take an extra load off parents’ shoulders and is grateful to help the children during these challenging times.
“What I enjoyed the most just in youth development period is the kickback from the fruits of your labor,” he said, “One of the biggest challenges in youth development is it takes so much time to see the fruits of your labor, but just having a kid come up to you in and they display a skill that you know that you have taught them directly is the most rewarding aspect of that.”
