Bellflower : School Child-Care Planned

A proposal for a child-care program for working parents in the Bellflower Unified School District will be presented to the Board of Education for approval on March 20.

The Bellflower district is one of 44 school districts in the state that recently received funds for latchkey programs, financed by state Department of Education grants.

Bellflower received $100,000 for the remainder of the 1985-86 school year. Next year the district will receive more than $300,000.

With board approval, the program would start April 1, using classrooms at 10 selected schools and serving 284 students and their siblings between 5 and 13 years old, said Keith Roozen, assistant superintendent of schools.

The funds will be used to hire 31 employees, including 10 state-licensed child-care teachers, Roozen said.

The program is expected to operate between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. The state requires that half of the children in the program be from families who cannot afford to pay a fee. For those children, the care will be free. The families of the rest of the children must pay a $1.55 per-hour fee.

“This is more than simply a housing or baby-sitting program,” Roozen said.

It provides academic instruction, including science and arts, and field trips, he said.

Parents interested in the program are asked to call 633-6492.