Mühlheim Assumes Responsibility for School Care: New Premises to Follow in September

The city of Mühlheim assumes responsibility for the care offered at the Geschwister-Scholl-School. The move to new premises follows in September.

Mühlheim – The mill town is growing. This is proven not least by the numerous construction projects, such as on the site of the former country house hotel Waitz in Lämmerspiel. But with additional living space and more families who settle down in Mühlheim with their offspring, the burden on the schools and their childcare services also increases.

It is not unusual for the transition from kindergarten to elementary school to result in sometimes long waiting lists, which working parents in particular who have to place their prospective school child in a facility for as full a day as possible are confronted with. “Last year, the places available in our municipal school care were completely adequate,” reports Dr. Alexander Krey (CDU). “The current situation with a waiting list is completely unfamiliar to us, too. The increase in the number of students has changed the situation significantly.”

In some cases, the city and district of Offenbach have already reacted. For example, the space in the new care building of the Rote-Warte-School, which recently officially opened with an academic celebration (we reported), is likely to be sufficient. According to Krey, there are currently no prospective first graders waiting for a place.

And the situation has recently eased again with the Markwald kids. While there were 14 children on the waiting list last month, this has now been processed. “For the Markwald-Kids there was recently a lack of staff, which we have now been able to compensate for thanks to additional employees,” says the First City Councilor Krey happily. In the case of the third school care service, which is managed by the city, little or nothing has changed in the situation. According to the current status, there are still 23 expectant school children in the starting blocks for the Goethe-Kids.

Since the last meeting of the city council, it has been clear that from August the city will also take over the care at the Geschwister-Scholl-School (GSS) in Dietesheim, which has not yet worked with an all-day offer corresponding to profile 1. “We have a special situation there, because we have a municipal offer through the after-school care center Kindervilla Basalto and the association also offers around 40 places directly on the school grounds,” Krey informs.

Recently, however, it has become clear that the association can no longer cope with this task due to increasing financial and organizational challenges. In addition, due to the increasing number of students, the premises of the care will have to be used entirely for teaching purposes in the future.

According to the current status, the planned move to the then adapted multifunctional rooms in the senior citizens’ residential complex on Thomas-Mann-Strasse will take place at the beginning of the new school year in September. “We are assuming that we can look after up to 75 children there,” says Krey, head of the social affairs department. In the medium term, however, a uniform offer directly on the GSS premises would be desirable.

Until then, the waiting list, on which there are currently 28 candidates for the children’s villa, should be processed with the additional capacities in Thomas-Mann-Straße, at least with a view to upcoming first graders. The administration expects a subsidy requirement of more than 400,000 euros for the financial year 2024 to take over the care. (Jan Lucas Frenger)