CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Dozens of Corpus Christi parents camped outside latchkey sites overnight to try and ensure that their kids get registered for the program. They said online registration was filled up in just six minutes.
At Faye Webb Elementary School, many parents were outraged as they waited outside to register, some lining up as early as 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
According to City of Corpus Christi officials, since this was the first time registration was online they strictly made it available to only 500 in order to face less technical problems. This left hundreds having to go in person to compete for the limited spots. As of noon Friday, 10 of the 33 latchkey locations were full.
"Every year it gets worse," parent Jackie Davenport said. "Kept refreshing, refreshing, refreshing. We did get in. We were able to register, get our kids online, but I had some coworkers out here that needed to get their kids."
"My husband slept here like five hours last night," parent Francis Ayala said. "I think the earliest person here was about 7-8:30 p.m. I will tell you the waiting was already started about 8:30 p.m."
The program is wanting to accept children and provide services, however they must follow regulations under the Texas Department of Human Services. Those include meeting the ratio of one staff member per 23 children. In order to make that possible, the program needs help.
Of the 136 staff members, they are still needing to hire 39 more to add to sites that are limited. If you know of anyone who has experience working with children, they can apply to help by going to www.cctexas.com.
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