COFFEE COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — Parents in Coffee County say they were blind-sighted when a popular after school program was canceled this year with little notice.
Little Olisha may have been coy for the NewsChannel 5 camera, but her mother Dana Spadola was incredulous.
"It was a shock!" said Spadola.
Last year, Olisha was able to attend Coffee County's Excellence After School Program.
"At the program, they get an hour’s worth of homework with the teachers, one on one, they do a club every Wednesday so it’s not just learning," said Spadola.
They also get to play and form friendships that Olisha, who has down syndrome, wouldn't normally get to experience. We sat down with Oisha and her mom — you can hear more from Oisha in the player above.
"Because she is special needs, she has made so many friends that are 'typical children' that we go out and people are like — 'hey Olisha'," she said with a grin.
But that won't be happening this year.
Dana got an email Monday that the federal grant that funds the after school program, wasn't awarded.
"I don’t know why it was such short notice, I believe that’s just when they found out," said Spadola. "I’m going to have to quit my job or you’re going to have to leave early, which none is feasible."
It's certainly a timing issue for their family. Her husband works long hours. Dana does Cosmetology School during the day and home health visits at night.
"We don’t know what we’re going to do," she said. "If I have to bring her to work with me, there might be some nights where she has to stay with me until midnight."
Parents have been told by the district that they're working on a potential back up after school program. But this iteration will be an hour shorter and it will come at a cost — $10 a day.
"A lot of parents, they can barely afford right now with the way the economy is. To feed our families, let alone pay someone extra to watch their children," said Spadola.
Dana hopes some solution becomes a possibility so that her shy little girl can continue to shine. "She’s a very big hugger, she’s just being shy, I don’t know why," she said.
NewsChannel 5 reached out to Coffee County Schools to get more information about why the grant wasn't awarded. So far, we haven't heard back.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email us at Chris.Davis@newschannel5.com and Emily.West@newschannel5.com.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
