Mission
The Touchstone Community School Extended Day program supports the needs of families and their children by providing an environment that is warm and nurturing, and where children have fun, relax, learn, and spend time with friends.  The program will be consistent with the Touchstone philosophy and meet nationally recognized standards for school-age childcare.
Calendar
Hours of operation
EDP is open from 7:45 - 8:15 a.m., and from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. on all regular school days.  In addition, EDP is open 7:45 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Curriculum days and Parent/Teacher Conference days, for which advance registration for either 7:45 to 3:00 or 7:45 to 6:00 is required.
 
Closures
EDP is closed whenever school is not in session – for holidays and school vacation weeks, and on snow days.  EDP is also closed when school is in session for a half day.
 
Should we determine during the school day that EDP must be cancelled or must close before 6:00 p.m., we will contact a parent of each student as early as possible to notify you and assist in making plans for pick-up.  These situations are rare, but usually involve dangerous weather and/or driving conditions.  It’s a good idea to have back-up plans for picking up your children in such instances.

Program Overview
Philosophy and Guiding Principles
Touchstone’s mission statement, philosophy, and guiding principles are used to create the EDP culture, a sub-culture within the Touchstone community where these principles are applied in practice every day.  EDP has been likened to “the neighborhood” for many Touchstone children; they enjoy coming to EDP to play with friends and explore their own interests. The EDP program offers structure, supervision, and activities of interest, and at the same time we expect children to be responsible for their choices as individuals and as members of the group.  Each child has the freedom and responsibility to choose what to do every afternoon within the constraints of the community culture.  Children and staff create and change the culture together; mutual respect is expected and developed by building close and meaningful relationships throughout the year.
 
Because EDP operates with large multi-aged groups for long blocks of “less structured” time, we can focus on the social and emotional development of each child and the group itself.
 
EDP activities are designed for children to explore individual interests and curiosities.  We encourage children to enjoy taking time to observe closely the world around us, and involve themselves deeply in art projects, games, and nature studies, and in learning about themselves and others. 

Daily Schedule
Our daily routine (schedule) is designed to provide just enough structure to make children comfortable: they understand “what’s going to happen” and yet they have an extended block of time in which to choose and be responsible for their own activities. It’s helpful for you as parents to understand the routine so when you pick up your children you’ll know what’s going on in their lives at that moment.  For example, children often don’t want to miss snack times, activity periods, or be picked up when they are immersed in a project; we hope this information will help you work with your children in planning their transition home.
 
The afternoon schedule is flexible, but generally looks like this:
 
 2:50 – Check-in: Children are responsible for formally checking in with the staff member taking attendance.  After they have checked in, they meet friends and play outside, in the gym, or about the common room.  Older students often prefer to complete homework right away.

3:05 - Community Meeting: Students and EDP staff assemble for announcements, an explanation of the day’s activity choices and snack options, and to discuss any areas of concern to staff or students.

 3:10 – Snack: We provide a generous snack that sometimes looks more like a meal! One or more alternatives are usually offered for those children who will not eat the day’s offering.  Some children like to help the staff serve the snack and everyone eats together in the common room.  Children pre-clean their own dishes when finished, and then take a moment to commit to an activity choice by signing up for one on the posted list.

3:20 – Activity period: When everyone has finished dining and cleaning up, the ringing of a bell indicates the beginning of our activity period.  Children go to their various activities (or areas in which they have elected to play) and they are expected to engage themselves in this activity for at least 20 minutes before shifting to any other choice.  (Typically, children are happy with their choices and immerse themselves in projects and play, never realizing that much of the afternoon has passed!) 

5:00 – “2nd Snack”: Sometime around 5 p.m. we call for a general clean up and announce that a second snack is available.  Typically, this is a “light offering” (fruit, popcorn); we want children to leave with a healthy appetite for dinner.

5:00 to 6:00: The daily activities often continue until we close, and as children finish them, we encourage cool-down games and activities to round out the day.

Special Events
Theme Days – From time to time your child may mention some special event going on in EDP. It could be an ice cream social, a “sleepover party,” or “Beach Day” (usually the coldest day in winter).  The kids enjoy planning and decorating for these events, and all children registered for EDP on those particular days are welcome to participate.
 
Halloween – It’s one of the big holidays at the school.  After our parade and assembly in the morning, the costumes are put away for the school day, but emerge again at 3 o’clock when EDP begins.  We hold a big party with special snacks and activities.  We now have a tradition of dressing the EDP Director in whatever costume the EDP kids have secretly created in the preceding weeks.

School Events and EDP – There are many all-school and class events that begin before or at EDP closing time.  If your child attends EDP on a day when the family will later arrive for an event, plan to arrive before EDP closing time to sign-out our child from EDP care.
 
Extra-curricular activities – Over the years, we have sponsored outside programs during EDP time or invited outside organizations to use space in the school to run their programs (for TCS and non-TCS families alike).  Programs run in the past include piano lessons, group karate classes, violin lessons, art classes, and tutoring.  If your child participates in such a program you may or may not need EDP care before or after it. If a child is registered for both an outside program and EDP, we make sure s/he gets back and forth and is supervised at all times.  If the child is not registered for EDP it is the parents’ responsibility to supervise the child(ren) before and after participating in outside programs.

Parent Communication
Daily Communication – We try to connect with parents daily at pick-up time to communicate about a child’s EDP experience.  The director and staff are available most days to discuss any areas of concern, and we encourage you to keep us informed of what’s going on in your child’s life outside of school.  The EDP Director works closely with the EDP staff to communicate between all staff and parents wherever appropriate.
 
Conference days – The EDP Director is generally available during parent / teacher conference days for an informal discussion either before or after your conference.
 
Meetings – The EDP Director is available to meet privately with parents about any area of concern.  In addition, you may invite the EDP Director to join certain meetings with your child’s classroom teacher.

Staffing
The EDP Director is a full-time employee of the school and is engaged with students and teachers throughout the school day.  A tremendous advantage of this is the Director’s understanding of what is happening with individual students and with the entire school culture on any given day.  The Director administers both the business and program elements of EDP, and works directly with children during EDP program hours.
 
The Assistant EDP Director assists in the planning of daily activities, the ongoing training of EDP staff, and in the daily operation of the program, concentrating on spending time with the children.
 
The EDP staff includes other adults and teenagers, who run activities related to their own, or to the children’s interest.  The teens are much loved by the children, and the students look up to them as role models. We invest a great deal in ongoing training for the teen staff, and many former EDP staffers have gone on to pursue teaching careers.  We consider the mixture of adult and teen staffing a unique strength of the program.
 
We boast a high teacher: student ratio.  Staffing levels vary with daily registration levels, so your advance planning in registration helps us staff appropriately and provide a better program.

Registration
Touchstone EDP registration is incredibly flexible and user friendly.  You can register for a period of several months on a contract, set up a repeating order (certain days repeatedly until you change it), sign up for individual days as you need them, and you can even request same-day care.  Your advance planning of registrations helps us to reduce administration costs, so please consider your needs carefully before registering.  Here’s an overview of registration options:
 
Contracts – If you know you’ll need care on certain days of the week for an extended period, EDP contracts might suit your needs.  They provide convenience and guaranteed registrations, along with a cost savings. A variety of contracts are available, and the options are detailed on the contract forms (available at the TCS Web site and in the forms rack outside the main office). Please note that all contracts must be pre-paid before the contract term begins, and also cannot be changed once the contract term has begun.
Daily registration – There are many ways to register for individual days of EDP care.  Monthly calendar registration forms are available online or at the office.  You can send an e-mail message to the EDP Director (instructions at the TCS Web site).  You can drop a note in the EDP Director’s mailbox.  Any way you choose, please take care to note the child’s name and the date(s) of care.  Please do NOT assume that a note sent along with your student will be received.

Drop-in Registration  - We expect parents to register for EDP with as much advance notice as possible.  However, if you find yourself needing EDP care within 2 days of service, you can pay a bit more and register as a “drop-in”.  Same-day requests must be handled by contacting the EDP Director on the phone or in person.  The number of drop-in registrations is limited, according to the number of existing registrations and the availability of additional staffing.

Same-day Registrations – Every morning the EDP Director will review the registrations and staffing for the day and will assess our capacity to accept additional registrations for same day service.  If you absolutely need a same-day registration, you must speak to the EDP Director directly.

Curriculum Days – EDP is open for full-day care on the days (usually Fridays) teachers plan curriculum and school is not in session.  Advance registration for either 7:45 to 3:00 (school-day hours) or 7:45 to 6:00, is required.

Parent/Teacher Conference Days - EDP is also open for full-day care on Parent / Teacher Conference Days. The same registration requirements apply as for Curriculum Day care. 

Care for your children DURING conferences ONLY - On Parent/Teacher Conference Days, EDP offers an additional service: care for your students and their school-aged siblings during the time you are here for your conferences.  When you sign up for conferences, please indicate on the form the number of children requiring care and the time of your visit.  When you arrive for your meeting, be sure to sign-in to EDP, and sign-out again when you depart.  Any EDP staff member present can help you or your children get acclimated.  The fee for this care is $5 per family per hour.
 
Policies and Fees
Terms of Use Agreement – By registering for EDP, parents are accepting the Terms of Use as detailed in the EDP Terms and Use Agreement.

Payment Policies – It is the responsibility of parents to keep EDP accounts current. EDP charges are payable when you register, and due before the end of the calendar month to which the daily charges apply. Please talk with the EDP Director if you need an alternate arrangement.  
 
Statements are mailed monthly for any account with an unpaid balance. You can save time and expense of mailings by paying your balance on a regular basis, and the EDP director can provide information about your current balance at any time.  Parents may also request a statement via email.
 
Finance Charges – A finance charge of $15 will be applied monthly to accounts for which charges are due for more than 60 days.  We reserve the right to decline or suspend registration for the program whenever an EDP account balance becomes excessive.
 
Registration changes - Your advance planning of EDP registrations helps us schedule appropriate staffing and minimize the time and expense of managing registrations.  A $5 fee is charged for each registration change/cancellation received more than 2 school days in advance of date of service.  No registration changes or cancellations are accepted within 2 school days of date of service.
 
Late pick-up “grace” - The school recognizes that occasionally there are unavoidable circumstances that will prevent a parent from picking up children on time.  Three “grace” occurrences per year are allowed for picking up late from dismissal. Fees normally incurred will be waived if students are picked up before 3:30.  The grace period ends at 3:30 p.m..
 
Automatic Registration after Dismissal - Children who have not been picked up from the regular school dismissal by 3:15 p.m. will be placed in the Extended Day Program.  As noted above, each family is allowed three late pick-ups per year from dismissal.  For the first three instances each year, if the child is signed-out by 3:30 p.m. the fee will be waived.  After three late-pick-ups, or if the child is picked-up after 3:30 p.m., the regular EDP drop–in rate will apply.
 
Fees for late pick-up - EDP closes at 6:00 p.m. and all children should be signed out before that time.  At 6:00 p.m. late pick-up fees begin to accrue - $15 at 6:00 p.m. and $5 at the beginning of each successive 5-minute period, to a maximum of $30.
 
Late pick-up fees when carpools are involved – Carpool drivers arriving late for dismissal (after 3:15 p.m.) will find that their riders have been automatically registered for EDP.  Similarly, carpool drivers arriving late for pick-up from EDP (after 6:00 p.m.) should realize that the EDP account for each student rider has incurred a late fee.  In all instances, we must apply any charges to the account of the student for whom the services are rendered.
 
It is the responsibility of carpool drivers to communicate with other families in the carpool about the whereabouts of the children, and later to determine which party will be responsible for any late fees incurred. Some parents might choose to pay the fees on another family’s account; others might prefer to reimburse the family for the charges.
 
Credits - Credit will be issued only when the program is cancelled or in the case of extended illness. If a child is registered and does not attend, no credit is issued.  See also: Registration Changes.
 
Other School Policies - EDP follows TCS policies (described in the TCS Handbook) for the following items:

Toys from home

Release of Children

Distribution of Medication

Field Trips

Children picked up when sick or injured