Approved Materials - Reston Community Center

with career development and the refinement and improvement of a participant's skills on a
subject matter basis. We think we have a terrific opportunity to promote ACE in our program
guide for patrons interested in career advancement or considering a career change by way of
participation in a specialized professional certification program.
Community Input 3: Expand the Prospera Hispanic Leaders Program (PHLP) at Lake Anne
Elementary School
Recommendation: While this is a unique and beneficial afterschool enrichment program, an
expansion is not a current top priority for the Leisure & Learning Youth Department. PHLP has
been operating for four years at Lake Anne Elementary School and began as a ten week long
pilot of one class, meeting once a week, and consisting of 20 students or "readers" and 10
student tutors/mentors, at a cost of approximately $5,500. Since then, the program has
expanded to 22 weeks of three classes (still meeting once a week) serving 90 participants with
four Lake Anne Elementary School teachers employed as after school coordinators and
instructors at the standard FCPS pay rate. As a result of the expansion, improvement of
materials and supplies provided by the contractor, Prospera Initiatives LLC, and annual
increases in operating costs, the program costs have increased to nearly $25,000 annually.
Expanding the program to include one more class will serve 20 more student readers and 10
student tutors attending Lake Anne Elementary School. It will also require the hiring of another
teacher and increased supply costs for books and snacks, for an additional cost at least $5,000
per year. Although we do not want to stifle the growth and success of the program, we also
realize there is significant community demand for more summer camp programs as well as after
school programs that do not reside within a specific school and that are accessible to the entire
community. Thus we believe that we should sustain the levels of our current program and look
at other options to serve more young people.
Community Input 4: Open up the computer classroom for after school programs/drop-in
participation
Recommendation: The Leisure & Learning Youth and Teen Departments currently offer
several after school classes that are held in the computer classroom periodically throughout the
school year. Recent classes have included financial planning, SAT Workshop, Lego
Engineering, and Digital Photography. RCC will continue to schedule specialty classes such as
these during after school hours. The second part of the request was to consider opening the
classroom up to allow a drop in or "open" lab usage for students to complete projects and
homework assignments. The idea of an open lab is intriguing although we are not confident that
an unstructured environment would result in significant or consistent attendance. Additionally,
the current computer classroom consists entirely of Windows PCs whereas the trend is to use
Apple technology such as iPads and MacBooks. If RCC does offer an after school computer lab
for students, it will require a supervisor to monitor participant behavior and online activity.
Based on an operating schedule of two times per week (e.g. Monday, Wednesday) for three
hours per session during the school year (approximately 36 weeks) the anticipated personnel
expense (including fringe benefits) is approximately $4,000. The concept of adding Apple
software to our current computer classroom is appealing and would certainly better engage the
younger generation while also allowing RCC to expand class topics to the adult and 55+
populations. RCC may qualify for one of Apple's education bundle packages, which allows for
the purchase of 10 16GB iPads at a minimum price point of $4,700.
Budget Data
Open Lab for Students
Schedule: Two days a week for 3 hours per day for 36 weeks
Staffing: 3.5 hours per day ($15.00 x 3.5 hrs. x 2 days x 36 weeks + fringe of .0785%) =
$4,076
Fee Structure: Drop In Free or Drop In Point of Sale needs to be determined.
6