Description

MAP Afterschool 2023-24

Looking for High Quality afterschool programs for your kids?

We are located across from Beebe school, and we can pick your child(ren) up from the Beebe school. If that is a service you need, please check the box below to indicate and we will include it on our roster.

What grades do we currently serve?

Currently we only serve grades K-5 (roughly ages 5-10). As we expand, we plan to offer afterschool for more grades and ages. We keep the grades/ages narrow so that the kids can receive a curriculum (in music, art, and programming) that is appropriate for their age group.

What will the kids be doing?

• General Music, which includes singing, drums, piano, guitar, and instrument building.
• Programming with Music Blocks visual programming language. Read our lesson plans at https://mapflc.com/lesson-plans/
• Art, which includes painting, watercolor, origami, and sculpture.

How is the schedule determined?

The schedule is determined based on information available on the Malden Public Schools 2023-2024 School Calendar. NOTE: There is no class on vacation days. We will makeup snow days if there are any. NEW: There will be afterschool on early dismissal days (three in the fall and six in the spring).

What are the schedule options?

You have the following schedule options:

• Five days a week: Three hours from 2:30 – 5:30 M-F (5 Days) with 5:00 – 5:30pm pickup time. Registration available now.
• Three days a week: Three hours from 2:30 – 5:30 M-W (3 Days) with 5:00 – 5:30pm pickup time. Registration available now.

NOTE: Sometimes we make other scheduling options available upon request. However, other a-la-carte scheduling options may require a 15% surcharge to cover the additional administrative costs.

Try it! Click an hour within your desired days/hours on the calendar below and you will be presented with your options.

Beebe Pickup Option and Parent Pickup Time

For all the options that begin at 2:30, you may request for us to walk your kid(s) over from the Beebe School. The walk is approximately 3-5 minutes. There is no additional cost for this service. Please check the box upon registration if this is what you would like to do. Please note that we do not have pickup options from any other schools at this time.

Parent pickup is within 15 minutes of the end of class. An additional charge of $1/minute will be billed to you if you arrive after 5:30pm. That being said, we understand that things happen. Please communicate if you are running late, and we will do our best to work with you.

How is the price determined?

The price is $16/hour. The sibling rate is $14/hour (12.5% discount) and is automatically applied to any option. Also, there is an additional 10% discount for choosing the five day per week option.

How is the bi-weekly rate determined?

New: We are billing bi-weekly instead of monthly as done previously.

We take the total number of hours for each school day and divide it by the number of weeks in the year and bill on a bi-weekly basis.

The bi-weekly billing is the same for the entire year. The bi-weekly billing rate is an average of all classes for the year, divided by half the total weeks served. This means that the billing rate is stable throughout the year.

What is the detailed breakdown of the bi-weekly rate?

Here is a detailed breakdown of the bi-weekly rate for the five day M-F option : (Five day option no longer available)

• Total M-F days served in school year 2023-24 = 178 days
  • 169 days * 3 hours per day = Total of 507 hours served
  •  9 early dismissal days * 6.5 hours per day = 58.5 hours served
    • 565.5 (hours) * $15.84 (hourly price with 10% discount, non-sibling) / 21 bi-weekly payments = $416.63 bi-weekly rate
    • 565.5 (hours) * $13.86 (hourly price with 10% discount, sibling rate) / 21 bi-weekly payments = $364.55 bi-weekly rate (per child)

Here is a detailed breakdown of the bi-weekly rate for the three day M-W option:

• Total M-W days served in school year 2023-24 = 96 days
  • 99 days * 3 hours per day = Total of 297 hours served
  •  7 early dismissal days * 6.5 hours per day = 45.5 hours served
    • 342.5 (hours) * $16 (hourly price, non-sibling) / 21 bi-weekly payments = $260.95 bi-weekly rate
    • 342.5 (hours) * $14 (hourly price, sibling rate) / 21 bi-weekly payments = $228.33 bi-weekly rate (per child)

Deposit

Your first payment, which you can pay through this website at any time, counts as the deposit as well as payment for the final two weeks.

Is financial assistance available?

Thanks to grant funding from organizations such as Massachusetts Cultural Council and a partnership with the non-profit Creative Malden, there is a small amount of financial assistance available for families who need it. To apply, please go to https://malden.mapflc.com/application-for-financial-assistance/

Is it Possible to Start After the Official Start Date? Is the Price Pro-rated if I Start Late?

Some families start a few days or weeks (not months) after the official start date. If you want to do this you need to contact us at info@mapflc.com to request special permission and registration. (Note: Please know that your spot is not automatically reserved by sending an email.)

If your request is granted, we will reserve your spot for you and you will receive an invoice for the first month. Please note that, although we do pro-rate, the pro-rated rate is at 50%. Therefore if you, for example, started on the second day, you will still pay for the first day, but at 50% of its cost. Your first invoice will be the monthly total, minus the pro-rated days, and all future invoices will be at the regular rate as described above. We do this for several reasons. One reason is because we must still pay the instructors for their time. Another is out of overall fairness to the other families who are registering for classes on-time.

Registration

For families enrolled in the current school year’s spring session, you simply need to communicate your commitment to continue into the spring session and you will be billed accordingly.

For new families, you must register and pay for the first month of classes before your child will be considered enrolled.

Note: Click on any date for the calendar below and pay the final bi-weekly installment as a deposit to guarantee your spot.

Viewing Bookings and Managing Payments and Invoices

You may self-serve to see the bookings schedule as well as manage payments and invoices via https://malden.mapflc.com/my-account/ and https://malden.mapflc.com/client-dashboard/

What will be done about snow days and other unforeseen breaks in the public school schedule?

First, MAP follows Malden Public School closures. When there is a closure, if the if there are unscheduled days at the end of the semester, we add the days missed due to the snow to the final week of the school year. If there are no days left at the end of the school year, you will be given booking credits at the rate you paid. This policy is the same for unforeseen breaks in the public school schedule. You will not receive credits for days that you miss do to personal reasons.

Is MAP Afterschool right for my family?

At MAP, we understand that there are many considerations that factor into a family’s decision for afterschool. The truth of the matter is that we may not be right for you. The following is a brief synopsis of what to expect from MAP.

• MAP focuses on quality education. All our staff are professionals in their given fields (a.k.a. “teaching artists“). This means that they have a lot to teach for those who want to learn.
• MAP has small class sizes. We are limiting all of our classes to ten students at a time. We do this because a higher teacher-to-student ratio makes it hard for students to get the individual attention they need from the teachers.
• MAP teachers are curriculum creators, not curriculum followers. All the teachers at MAP have created numerous lesson plans over the years. Devin Ulibarri and Walter Bender co-created a visual programming language, Music Blocks, to teach programming concepts, together with music, to kids all over the globe. This means that the instructors can work with the ever-changing needs of the classroom.

There you have it. MAP puts quality and innovative teaching/learning above all else, and the pricing reflects that. Your dollar pays for the best teachers and small class sizes, while also allowing us to create curriculum for the unique needs of your kids. If your goal is to provide inexpensive and/or intermittent daycare for your child, then MAP may not be the right choice for you. We acknowledge that there are other places you can take your kids, depending on your needs. However, if your goal is to expose your kids to knowledgeable teachers and role-models, and if our times and location work for you, then we think MAP afterschool is a great choice.