Overview
An after school program that needed more than a daycare software to manage their fee and grant-based programming
With accurate attendance tracking, the THRIVE program can serve more families
A team looking forward to an exciting future with technology that's right for their program
Program introduction
In eastern San Diego County, Ramona Unified School District (USD) runs the THRIVE expanded learning program to serve the community. The THRIVE Program maintains an environment where children feel safe, supported, and valued. Students attending the THRIVE program experience time and space dedicated to homework (or academic enrichment) and opportunities for character-building, social-emotional learning, and recreational activities.
The THRIVE program is a blend of grant- and fee-based attendees. Ramona USD community members can receive the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELO-P) Grant or the After School Education and Safety Program (ASES) Grant from the California Department of Education (DOE). Specifically, out of nearly 400 program attendees:
171 of 399 receive the ELO-P Grant
70 of 399 receive the ASES Grant
20 of 399 receive both the E-LOP & ASES Grants
THRIVE runs before and after school care through six sites, serving around 400 students while employing 32 staff. Expanded learning program supervisor Kathleen Wager helps oversee the THRIVE program under program manager Amy Bradshaw and is supported by Ana Torres and Elizabeth Abarca.
Setting
Not just another daycare software
Earlier this year, the THRIVE team decided to search for new software to manage their program, as their current software wasn't built specifically for their industry.
We previously used software geared toward daycares, and it didn't suit our needs anymore. We wanted software that was a little more elevated and more than daycare software because we're an after school program. We're not a daycare.
Because the THRIVE program's current software wasn't designed for the after school industry, it couldn't provide the team with necessary information about day-to-day program operations.
We couldn't pull the type of reports that we needed for accounting purposes and attendance purposes. Now, we can pull specific reports, like student counts during specific timeframes, from Arux.
Solution
The THRIVE team receives homework from Arux customer success
After officially partnering with Arux in the spring, the THRIVE team at Ramona USD quickly jumped into implementation and training with Arux customer success specialist Ashley Hayes.
Ashley would give us easy homework on building the program and guide us every step of the way. Having her be the face of our training just took our stress away. Ashley helps us think of things that we don't even think about.
Navigating another software transition with the community
When they decided to transition to Arux, the THRIVE team was still only one year into the current system. Naturally, when the team decided to jump again to a new system, there was a little confusion and maybe even a little pushback from the community.
However, any skepticism quickly changed to excitement for community members and site staff, who were all eager to use Arux.
Change is necessary. Our sites, the community, and the people we serve really like this new platform. We're teaching them something brand new.
What has helped with this smooth transition is the overall Arux user experience. The THRIVE team finds the platform intuitive, easy to use, and, just as important, easy to teach.
It's very user-friendly. Our staff would go in before school and learn the system. We would quiz them, and they were able to navigate through the platform with ease.
We're rocking and rolling now
After hands-on implementation and training, the THRIVE team is enjoying many specific aspects of Arux that make their jobs easier. Whether it's managing registration, communicating with parents, or accessing reports, day-to-day operations are becoming more streamlined through Arux.
It's everything we can think of; [Arux] thinks through it as a need and services it. I can view the exact timestamp of when parents submit an application.
We can do tagging.
If a parent calls and asks, "Where am I on the wait list?" I can tell them exactly, "Oh, there's X amount of families in front of you." Or, "Oh, am I a fee-based?"
I can tell them, based on my tags, if they are grant-funded or fee-based. Going in there (Arux) daily, the more I'm in there, the more I learn, and the easier I can navigate to get what I need and get what report I need. And I love it. Attendance tracking and managing late pick-ups and early drop-offs On the financial side, the THRIVE team is enjoying the attendance tracking features within Arux, particularly how late pick-ups or early drop-offs are flagged for the accounting team to view right away.
Our accountant can get in there (Arux) immediately, look at a glance for the week, and see who was picked up late. Then, she can follow through with our sites on the necessary things that we need.
Attendance reporting to help serve more of the community
The team also leverages attendance reports through Arux to find actual attendance numbers, which helps the program admit more students.
If a family reaches out and says, I only need care in the morning, although we might have 50 families signed up, the average is 20 or 30 families are leveraging it. Then, we can allow another student in based on our average.
And so we're able to help more families. Where we usually wouldn't be able to see, okay, we think we've got 60 at one site with, you know, X amount of staff, so we can only add so much. They're at capacity. Now, we can see in real time that they're not at capacity.
It's great for our community because that is the need — to eliminate children from our waitlist and get them into the program.
Analyzing staffing ratios through the Admin Dashboard
As the expanded learning program supervisor, Wager's favorite functionality is the Admin Dashboard, being able to view every school's dashboard and see what's coming up and exactly how many kids are attending each site.
That helps me with staffing. If a site lead mentions they're low on staff for the day, I can look into it and confirm that the staff-to-student ratios are on point. So I don't need to try to find extra support.
Going forward
Looking ahead, the THRIVE team is focused on goal setting, expanding the programs within, and eliminating paper by doing so.
One of our biggest program goals this year was to organize the overall structure of our organization and program. And so this definitely checks one of those goals off the list.
Mainly, the team is excited about the future and what the program will continue to look like within Arux.
Families are already in there (Arux), and if they want to sign up, I'm excited to see how easy it will be for them to do so. Then for me to go ahead and send them the invite. We don't know exactly what the future will look like, but we're looking forward to it. This is going to be really helpful.