By Melissa Dunson

mdunson@joplinglobe.com

It can mean the difference between dropping out and graduating, and for some, it may be the one real meal that day.

For students in one of Joplin’s after-school programs, the service is crucial.

“They wouldn’t be here if they didn’t need us,” said Rhonda Gorham, executive director of the Joplin Boys and Girls Club.

Julia Ayala, 11, Joplin, uses that program. Her mother cleans houses and her father owns a mechanic shop. She has no other relatives in the area and said if she wasn’t at the Boys and Girls Club in Joplin, she would probably be home alone until 7 p.m. each school day.

Four years ago, the U.S. Department of Education estimated that as many as 15 million “latch-key kids” return to empty houses after school. That’s a risky prospect, according to the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center. That group reports the peak hour for juvenile crime is between 3 and 4 p.m. and children are at the highest risk of being a victim of crime between 2 and 6 p.m.

But many Joplin parents don’t have the option of being home with their children after school. The Jasper and Newton County Community Health Collaborative Status Report for 2005 noted the median Jasper County family income at $37,611 — nearly $9,000 less than the state median. That same report found that more than 20 percent of Jasper County’s children live in poverty.

Anne Webster, Joplin, said she has to work to pay bills and couldn’t afford a daycare program or even a baby-sitter for her three children. If it weren’t for after-school programs, she said her children would all be at home, fighting or maybe doing something worse.

“These days, (daycare) is $100 to $150 a week per kid — and that’s way too much for me,” Webster said. “There’s just absolutely no way.”

Instead, her youngest son, Jayden, 10, comes to the Boys and Girls Club every afternoon until 5:30 p.m. He does most of his homework during the afternoon, and he goes straight from the club to football practice each evening. Then, she said, he comes home and falls into bed. It helps, Webster said, in the battle to keep her kids engaged and out of trouble.

‘Staying engaged’

Angie Bessendorfer, Joplin R-8 assistant superintendent, said parents always have to deal with childcare concerns for students who are too young to stay by themselves, but not as many parents realize the dangers children face as young adolescents.

“Even for those children who are old enough to stay home, this can be really important for them staying engaged,” Bessendorfer said.

A 1995 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that teenagers have a lot of discretionary time, but little of it is spent building skills or character. At that time, the study found the average teen watches 2.5 hours of television a day, talks with friends on a daily basis and hangs out with friends in their neighborhood or at the mall twice a week.