After school program undergoing change

SIKESTON -- When school resumed for the Sikeston R-6 School District in 2011, students attending the local YMCA's after school program also started a new routine.

For the first time in the program's 14-year existence, students stayed put in their home schools when the bell rang at the end of the day.

"Prior to the January change, the program had been running in one location, and for several years that has been at the Fifth and Sixth Grade Center," said Cassandra Limbaugh, childcare director for the YMCA of Southeast Missouri in Sikeston. "All children who attended were bused there from each (Sikeston) elementary school."

Limbaugh, who was hired in her position on Dec. 15, said the YMCA has worked since last summer to offer after school care at each elementary site versus the one location.

In December, the Sikeston R-6 Board of Education accepted the YMCA's proposal to provide after school care at each of the district's four elementary school buildings, the Kindergarten Center and the Fifth and Sixth Grade Center.

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