LEAP director finds new classes, faces budget woes

A bucket band, rocket ships and knitting.

Bigfork’s LEAP after school program has introduced all three as part of new activities for this school year.

Bucket band will be auditioning to take a spot in this year’s Cowabunga! variety show. The rocket ships will be made at the tail-end of an aeronautics class that is being taught to fourth-graders and higher. Both were introduced as part of this semester of programming.

Knitting is in it’s second semester and has both advanced and beginning levels of students.

LEAP has a core group of seven staff members and volunteers that run the classes. Program director Betty Darr said they let each of the 87 kids who attend the program pick and choose which classes they want and help pick future class offerings.

“When we said guitar, it was like 40 hands went up,” she said.

Guitar took the place of last semester’s hand bell choir.

Introduction of the new classes started in the fall, just after Darr took over as program director.

Darr said they also asked parents for suggestions on how to improve the program.

As a result, LEAP dedicates more time to homework completion and keeps walkie talkies on hand for when parents arrive to pick up their children.

But not all of her decision’s have been fun and easy to make.

She had to reduce staff and staff hours by 25 percent mid-fall because of budget issues.

Darr said her staff is dedicated to the program, and make sure the kids come first. 

“They all just sucked it up and kept doing what they had to do,” she said.

Additional grant funding kicked in at the beginning of the year, so Darr was able to replenish her staff’s hours, but she will have more difficult decisions to make in the near future.

LEAP is still on the verge of losing the five-year community learning grant from the Office of Public Instruction. The money has funded the program since it’s inception. When Darr reapplies for the grant, she will by applying for a grant that will be approximately 60 percent of the budget for the three after-school programs that share the grant now.

While LEAP shares the funds with the Kila and Columbia Falls after school program, much of the money goes to LEAP because Bigfork’s program takes care of a larger number of kids.

If Bigfork’s program gets the grant again, Darr will still have to make cuts. The funding will be cut almost in half and additional options need to be found. So, Darr tries to focus her almost 20 hours a week of work on looking for donors, applying for more grants and keeping communication with the board open.

The staff and volunteers she has working for her right now can do the job they need to without a hands-on approach from her.

“I don’t need to be here everyday,” Darr said. “They know what to do and they do it well.”

If you are interested in learning more about the LEAP program call 837-5327 or email bfleapintolife@gmail.com.