Extended Day FAQ

Yes. The annual registration fee is $45 for the first child and $35 for each additional child. The fee is charged during the registration process.
Registration fees are not refundable.

No. At most schools every child will be enrolled.  However, there may be waitlists at some schools for the after-school session, where demand exceeds capacity.  There are no wait lists for the before school session, Middle School Check-In Program, or Summer Extended Day.

Yes. Each child needs to register for Extended Day each year.

• A valid APS Student ID number must be provided for the student to be eligible for Extended Day registration.

Please contact your school’s registrar for assistance if you have not received your child’s Student ID Number.

Students must be at least four years old by September 30 of the school year they are registering.

Extended Day registration is conducted online.
Please refer to the Registration Page for information about registration including registration links, dates, and eligibility.
New families may use the Preparing New Families for Registration page for guidance in setting up their account prior to the opening of registration.
If you need one-on-one assistance with registration, you may schedule an in-person appointment.

You will be asked to provide general family and medical information and two emergency contacts, other than the parents/guardians, that are within 30 minutes of the school.

Extended Day will send an email to confirm registration has been received for each session (before and/or after school) and for which each child.

If you do not receive a confirmation email within 48 hours of registering, please email extended.day@apsva.us.

Please contact the Extended Day Central Office at 703-228-6069.

No. Please only submit a registration for one school.
If we receive multiple registrations for a student for a session, we will process the most recent registration and remove any previously submitted registrations.

To start Extended Day on the first day of school, eligible students must be registered by August 15 and will be enrolled if space is available.

This session option is only available for employees of Arlington Public Schools.

You may cancel your Extended Day enrollment by sending an email to the Extended Day Central Office, at Extended.Day@apsva.us.

Please include your child’s name, school attending, and the future effective date.  Withdrawals may not be made retroactive based on attendance.

Families will be billed and responsible for payment of fees until your cancelation request is received in the Extended Day Central Office.

Lotteries are conducted for schools where Extended Day registration exceeds program capacity.

The capacity for each school has been established based on the Virginia Department of Education child care standards regarding space availability and staffing.
The standards include requirements specific to space availability (square footage per child) and staffing ratios (based on the age of the children).

Extended Day registration is conducted in phases.

Phase 1 registration is for students returning to Extended Day from the prior school year.

• All children registered during Phase 1 will be enrolled in Extended Day if the family meets the registration eligibility requirements.

Phase 2 registration is for students who were registered for the after school session for the previous school year and placed on the program Waitlist as of October 1, and remain on the waitlist for the after school session as of May 1.

• Families who register during Phase 2, will be enrolled in the order of their waitlist placement for current school year, until capacity is reached.
• Once capacity is reached registrants will be placed on the waitlist in the same order as their waitlist placement for the current school year

Phase 3 registration is open to all students not registered during Phase 1 and 2.

• After the Phase 3 registration window has closed, all eligible Phase 3 registrants will be included in a lottery and students will be enrolled, in order of their lottery number, until capacity is reached.  Remaining students will be placed on a waitlist.

A few days following the conclusion of the Phase 3, after the registration information has been reviewed for eligibility and completeness, all Phase 3 registrants will be included in a lottery at schools where registration exceeds capacity.

Families will be notified of their child’s enrollment status about a week after the conclusion of their phase.

Any child registered during Phase 3 will have his/her name entered in the lottery.  Families must have a $0 balance for their Extended Day family account.
The annual registration fee must have been paid as well.

If siblings attend the same school, the family will have one entry in that school’s lottery.

If a family’s number is selected before the program reaches capacity, all the children in that family will be enrolled.

If a family’s number is selected after the program has reached capacity, the children will be placed on the waitlist.

Families registering children for different schools will have lottery numbers at each school.

Do not wait to develop contingency plans.

Other local childcare programs may be available to ensure coverage.
If your children are selected in the Extended Day lottery, you can choose to withdraw them from the other program.
If children who attend other local programs are accepted into Extended Day in the middle of a month, Extended Day will hold your spot until the following month, upon request.

No.
There will not be a lottery for summer school Extended Day as there is sufficient space for all children at the summer school programs.

Wait lists are established when the demand for an Extended Day program exceeds the capacity of that school’s program.  Typically, wait lists are the result of:

• Staffing needs: more staff is needed to accommodate additional children
• Space limitations: additional space is needed to accommodate more children

Extended Day continues the hiring process on-going throughout the school year.

When additional staff is needed to accommodate more children, new Extended Day staff is assigned to the specific program.

Sometimes this situation is resolved quickly as new staff is ready to be placed.  However, staff attrition often offsets new hires and causes delays to the process.

When a wait list is established due to space limitations, Extended Day works with the administrators at the school to identify additional space that will allow Extended Day to increase in enrollment.

Extended Day operates 32 programs, in a normal year about 4,300 children are enrolled.
Extended Day typically has wait lists at about five schools, comprising about 200 children.

It is difficult to predict which schools will have wait lists, as enrollment varies from year to year.

No.
Children registered for the before-school session are guaranteed enrollment in the morning.  A child may be wait listed for the after-school session and still participate before school.

No.

If your child is placed on a wait list, Extended Day continues to work to enroll your child as soon as possible.  The wait lists are monitored daily and you will be notified as soon as your child can be enrolled.

The types of activities offered in Extended Day are very different than those during the school day.
And, Extended Day complies with state licensing standards, which require specific square footage per child, depending on the type of activity conducted in each space.
While perhaps 24 children can comfortably be accommodated in an instructional classroom, the same space may not necessarily accommodate 24 children participating in art, drama, dance, or active games, because of the nature of these activities.

For the school year, fees are charged monthly with payment due by the first of each month, September 1st through June 1st.

• For students that start or withdraw from services during a month, fees will be charged based on the whole or half month.

For the summer programs, there is a one-time fee charged for the entire summer.

Fees are determined by the annual household income of the family, the bell schedule of the school the child(ren) attends, and the enrollment options selected (before and/or after school).
The total cost of services for the number of scheduled school days is then divided into 10 equal monthly payments.

• Online payments can be made through MySchoolBucks, using Visa or MasterCard.
  • New students to APS may not be available in MySchoolBucks until the second week in July.
    New families may need to consider an alternate method of payment in order to meet payment deadlines.
  • Please note:  your current balance will not be indicated on MySchoolBucks.com, so please refer to your invoice or Family Account.
  • Payments may be paid toward one child in the Extended Day family account. You do not need to itemize the costs by child. The full amount paid through MySchoolBucks will be applied to your Extended Day family account.
• Check and money order payments can be mailed to the Extended Day Central Office, 2110 Washington Blvd. Arlington, VA 22204.
• In-person payments can be made by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, or Discover), check, or money order, at the Extended Day Central Office.
• Check and money order payments may also be deposited in the after-hours drop box located at the Extended Day Central Office.
  • The drop box is located on the first floor, on the left wall before the elevator lobby.
  • The building is open 6:00 AM – 10:00 PM; the parking garage closes at 9:30 PM.

Cash payments are not accepted.

Payments may not be made over the phone.

Payments are not accepted at the schools.

All payments must be received in the Extended Day Central Office by the due date indicated.

• There is an annual registration fee of $45 for the first child and $35 for each additional child.
• Registration fees are not refundable.
• This annual fee covers all registrations submitted for services between July 1 and June 30 each year.
• The annual registration fee will be charged upon submitting your first registration for the service year.

We will always work with families to make Extended Day affordable. Fees should not be prohibitive.

If you need assistance, please contact the Extended Day director or assistant director at 703-228-6069

No.

• Receipts and statements can be accessed online from your Extended Day Family account, or
• To request a receipt or statement, please contact the Extended Day Central Office at extended.day@apsva.us.

• The Employer Identification Number (EIN) for the Extended Day program is 54-6001128.

• Children participate in a wide variety of activities and events that build Developmental Assets, including games, art, drama, cooking, science, literacy, recreation and other projects and events.
• Each program also provides children with time each day to work on their homework, but Extended Day does not provide tutoring services.

• Extended Day is located at your child’s school.
• The primary Extended Day space at each school is usually the cafeteria, however we do use other spaces in each building and the playground.
• Please contact the Extended Day staff (Extended Day Directory) at your school to find out the specific location for drop-off for the before school program and pick-up for the after school program.

The Check-In program provides after school care in each of the middle schools.

• Check-in offers students on-site after school activities, clubs, sports, and scheduled events.
• Students also have the opportunity to participate in extra-curricular school-sponsored activities and events.
• Check-in students, with parental permission, are also able to sign themselves out and leave the school campus.
• Once a child has signed out for the day they cannot return to the Check-in program.

The Extended Day Program offers a healthy, tasty snack every afternoon at each school. The daily snacks are USDA approved and meet Virginia Department of Social Services licensing standards.

The before school session at elementary schools begins at 7 a.m. and continues until the school day begins.

The afternoon session at elementary and middle schools begins at school dismissal and ends at 6 p.m..

On days when school is delayed two hours due to inclement weather Extended Day programs also open two hours late (9 a.m.).

On days when school is closed early due to inclement weather the after school Extended Day programs will not be open.  Families should identify alternate dismissal plans for their child in ParentVUE.

On days when school is delayed two hours due to inclement weather or emergencies, Extended Day programs also open two hours late (9 a.m.).

On days when school is closed early due to inclement weather or emergencies, the after school Extended Day programs will not be open.

Families should identify alternate dismissal plans for their child in ParentVUE.

No.
Extended Day does not operate on teacher work days or other days when students do not attend school.

Yes.
The Extended Day Program is operated by the Department of Finance and Management Services and all staff are Arlington Public Schools employees.

Extended Day is funded almost entirely through participation fees.  A contribution from Arlington County supplements the program, if necessary. The Code of Virginia prohibits school funds from being used for child care programs.

The Arlington Public Schools Extended Day programs operate exempt from state licensure, per VA Code. However, the Extended Day programs comply with state licensing standards and are monitored by the Extended Day Central Office, which conducts at least two monitoring visits annually. There is no direct oversight by the Virginia Department of Social Services.

The staffing at each site is determined by the number of children enrolled in the program, based on the following adult to child ratios:

Registration for the summer program and the school year program is conducted online and begins in the spring.
Families new to Extended Day can request a new family account using our New Family Account Request form.
Families with children already in Extended Day will need to add siblings new to APS to their existing Extended Day family account online at https://apsfamily.schoolcareworks.com/login.jsp.

Yes

No.

Children participate in a wide variety of activities, including games, art, drama, cooking, science, literacy, recreation and other projects and events. The summer program has a camp atmosphere and includes field trips and swimming.