West Springfield Boys & Girls Club President and CEO Dan D’Angelo explained the organization’s before and after school programming in West Side.
Photo credit: Town of West Springfield
WEST SPRINGFIELD — The West Springfield Boys & Girls Club is making updates to its programming for West Side students and offering a wide variety of enrichment experiences, from slime-making to STEM opportunities.
West Springfield Boys & Girls Club President and CEO Dan D’Angelo, Chief Operating Officer Mike MacLeod and Director of Program Operations and Mission Advancement Stephanie Chaffee stopped by the Oct. 27 School Committee meeting with program updates.
D’Angelo said it’s hard to believe it’s been 14 years since starting the pilot before and after school program at Tatham Elementary School.
He said this program has turned into great experiences for West Side students and “much needed programs for our families that are working or in school, or need that type of care.”
“In the 2025 school year, we had 249 kids participate in the before school and after school programs at the elementary schools,” D’Angelo said. “During that same period of time, the club sponsored $87,000 worth of financial aid for those students. That was not state-funded, that was not vouchers, that was club-funded financial aid.”
He said the organization is looking at the same kind of numbers this year and a little higher for financial aid.
“Those needs have grown,” D’Angelo said. “We’re looking at probably about $100,000 worth of financial aid to support those families in our after school, before school programs.”
The programs fund the entire organization, which D’Angelo said is open 50 weeks out of the year.
He said it just reintegrated a middle school extended nights program from October to May on Mondays through Thursdays. The Friday night middle school programs will reopen shortly.
“We have had a great collaboration with the schools,” D’Angelo said. “The principals, the teachers in those schools have been fabulous and the programs continue to grow. As we morph into other needs for our families, other program opportunities and as we listen to our families, we develop new programs to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of our community.”
MacLeod said the organization has made several changes to the before and after school programs based on feedback from families and the community.
The enhancements are designed to provide greater flexibility for families, expand enrichment opportunities, strengthen family engagement and further create an engaging and rewarding experience for every child.
“Realizing that some parents went back to work hybrid, the two-and-three-day option was something that came into conversation quite a bit last year,” MacLeod said. “We did add that as an option for our members. We have about 18 members who are utilizing the services that way.”
MacLeod gave a glimpse at enrollment numbers for school programs.
The before school program at Fausey Elementary School trended down from last year, moving from 12 students to 10. MacLeod speculated the decrease as a result of the “traffic jam that happens over there.”
The Fausey after school program’s enrollment did increase from 36 to 43.
John Ashley’s before school program also trended down from 16 to 12 students but saw an increase in after school participation. Tatham’s programs both increased.
MacLeod described a free, six-week program the organization held at Memorial School following the loss of 21st Century Community Learning Center programming.
21st Century Community Learning Center programming is a state-funded initiative for out-of-school-time education.
Programs at Memorial School included a STEM program with 10 students and a slime making program with 18 students.
The programs were designed to help bridge the gap in access to out-of-school-time opportunities and ensure students could benefit from experiences at no cost to families.
Over 115 students attended the organization’s offsite enrichment programs, including coding, science, art history and mixed media arts. Enrollment is still open for offsite programs through December.
Chaffee said the organization employs experienced professionals across all of its sites.
She said the preschool program works with teachers “that are not currently lead teacher or teacher-certified to obtain their credentialing to work directly in preschool.”
“Many of our team members hold degrees currently in education or related fields,” Chaffee said. “We have full-time leadership coverage, which allows all programs to benefit from dedicated full-time leadership and oversight and support. That also allows for consistent supervision and accountability.”
More information on the Boys & Girls club and its programming can be found at wsbgclub.org.
