Become an Essential Service

When you think about the term, “an essential service”, what comes to your mind?  Certainly for me it would be all the things that I use every day without so much as a thought, but would miss like crazy if it was unavailable.  Running water (in both hot and cold forms), adequate roads for me to get around on, a grocery store that has a variety of choices, a sewer system that works, electricity straight to my house and appliances, mail delivery, and of course, the Internet.  When something occurs and any of these essential services are unavailable, I am at a loss about what to do.  In Bakersfield, California snow is very unlikely.  One winter night when I was a principal, it snowed.  Not only did it snow a little, it snowed for about 5-6 hours and left about 4 inches of snow on the ground.  At 1:30 in the morning I received a phone call from one of my teachers who was afraid that I was missing the snow—which I wasn’t as she was the third or fourth call I had received.  We were all amazed by this snow.  When morning came, even though it was a week day and we were all expecting to be at school or work, the city was virtually shut down—schools, office buildings, even the mall.  Fortunately, electricity, water, and the sewer remained operational, but for that one day, all of those other essential services were not available and I really missed them. 

To ensure that after-school time will remain high on the priorities of parents, school day stakeholders, tax payers and legislators, we in the business of after-school need to be committed to developing each program to the threshold of ESSENTIAL SERVICE.  We need to be so effective at what we do, the support we provide for youth and families, and the results that we get, that the thought of not having an after-school program would be akin to not having running water.  As an after-school professional you have it within your power to develop and deliver high-quality after-school programs that will benefit the youth you serve.  Each day reflect on what has occurred in the program and ask yourself how this could be done more effectively and more efficiently and then set out to make those changes.  Celebrate the great work that you and your staff do and the progress your students make.  Let everyone in your town or city know and become aware, day by day, success by success, result by result that your after-school program is, without a doubt, an essential service for youth and their families.

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