When the preschool day at the Early Bird Educational Center in Queens ended at 2:30 p.m. on a recent afternoon, most of the children stayed for free after-school care.
They read “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats and donned lab coats and safety glasses to create snow globes. Then they had graham crackers for snack and danced around the classroom in a conga line.
Paola Marte, 30, arrived from her job with State Farm Insurance to pick up her 4-year-old daughter, Arlene, around 4:30 p.m. “I like it because I know she likes it,” Ms. Marte said. “She’s always talking about what she’s doing, and likes painting.”
The after-school program, which runs until 5:30 p.m., is a help to working parents like Ms. Marte and her husband, who makes empanadas at a restaurant until 6 p.m.
Most of the city’s free preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds mirror the public school schedule. They typically operate from 8 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., and close in July and August for summer break.
The Early Bird Center is part of New York City’s free prekindergarten initiative, and a relatively new program called School Day and Year Plus, which offers longer hours. It could serve as a model as Mayor Zohran Mamdani moves to begin providing free child care for 2-year-olds, known as 2-K, this fall.
Families are grateful for free child care, which often leads to savings of more than $20,000 per year. But it can be a challenge to pick up children in the middle of the afternoon, before the end of a typical workday. Some parents pay for after-school programs or hire babysitters.
At a recent City Council hearing, top education officials in Mr. Mamdani’s administration said they were considering offering a full-day program for 2-K. The city’s outreach to providers asked whether they were interested in offering an expanded day and full year program running from July through June.
The Mamdani administration has said that 2-K will rely on existing providers, both day care centers and home-based care. Many are currently open all day, juggling nap times and potty training and the more intensive care that toddlers require.
Extending care until 5 or 6 p.m. would add to the total cost of the plan. The city will start 2-K with 2,000 seats this fall and add 10,000 seats next fall.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has committed to paying for the first two years of 2-K. But Mr. Mamdani and Ms. Hochul, both Democrats, have not said how his universal child care program would be paid for in future years, when it could cost billions of dollars annually.
Experts agree that providing the option for care beyond the school day would help make 2-K successful. “Families are still on the hook for finding and securing care for the next couple of hours,” after the regular school day, said Elliot Haspel, a senior fellow at the think tank Capita, who has written a book about strengthening the nation’s child care system. “It blunts the impact of the program.”
Grace Rauh, executive director of Citizens Union, a civic group, said that her daughter had taken a school bus to a private after-school program when she was in free prekindergarten. Offering a full day, and summer care, would simplify the logistics, she said, and allow more parents to stay in the work force and save money.
“We have a chance to get this right from the start,” she said. “I’ve been pleased to see this on the table.”
Emmy Liss, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Child Care, is weighing several thorny issues as the city moves to offer new seats for 2- and 3-year-olds later this year. She has talked about the importance of increasing the pay for child care workers, and improving services for children with disabilities.
The Early Bird serves a diverse community in the Jamaica neighborhood in Queens. Eyeri Gonzalez, the executive director, said that some teachers had at first been reluctant to work the longer hours, but many of the staff and the children have embraced it. She said that out of 30 children in prekindergarten, 26 had stayed for after-school on the recent afternoon.
“We work on STEM projects, and they get to work on writing skills and reading in a more relaxed environment,” she said. “The teachers make extra money. It’s a win-win all around.”
Ms. Gonzalez said that many parents had not known about the free after-school program until she told them about it. About 2,800 children are enrolled in the longer day, at 85 preschools, and that often includes early morning care, for a total of 10 hours per day, according to the mayor’s office
The program has been a priority for the City Council, which provided about $40 million during the last fiscal year. Simone Hawkins, the deputy chancellor of early childhood education for city schools, has told the Council that the city is moving to expand the program to 4,700 children.
But city officials said at a Council hearing last year that only about 60 to 70 percent of students at participating centers were enrolling, and that staffing was the greatest barrier. Some centers hire additional staff members to stay late.
Elda Gomez, 23, said that being able to pick her son Cesar up later in the day allowed her to focus on his siblings, one of whom has autism. She is also pregnant with her fourth child, and struggles to find moments of rest.
Most importantly, Ms. Gomez said, her son enjoys it.
“They play doctor and firefighter and they make slime,” she said. “He gets bored easily at the house.”
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is a public policy correspondent for The Times, covering New York City.
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