For 86 of our Club members who also happen to be Sierra House students. For those who have missed the news, unfortunately Sierra House renovations have run over by two weeks and that school will now reopen on Monday 9th September.
The Club is very proud to once again be able to step up to the plate and assist our families and community by offering an extended summer to all Sierra House students. The extended program will run from 8:30am to 3:30pm Monday through Friday (excluding Labor Day) and will follow our summer schedule of brain gain, art, games, sports and lots of fun. At 3:30pm we will transition to our after-school program and Club Members will be able to stay on for an additional 3 hours if they wish.
We will not be able to accommodate any Sierra House students who are NOT Club Members after 3:30pm due to the high numbers of members we have for the after-school program. Indeed we are already on a wait list at both Main-Site and Bijou for the after-school program.
While the Club feels it is our duty and role to help support our community and the School District, extending the summer does place a significant burden on the Club. The extra hours for program staff will be covered by LTUSD’s insurance policy, but the extra work for our admin team, the extra wear and tear on our equipment, and the burden of running both the extended summer and our normal after-school program will be on the Club. Therefore, we ask for everyone’s patience, understanding and most importantly, support, as we once again step up and help out.
For all other schools it will be business as usual on August 26th. Club will open for the after-school at the end of the full school day (we do not open early for TK or kindergarten students) and programs will start as soon as the members arrive at Club. Although their is little homework the first week, we will still be doing power hour, followed by enhancement programs, and getting to know all the new faces joining us for the school year. Ali and Nico continue as our site coordinators and over at main site our hot supper program will be serving dinner at 5pm each evening.
We are very excited for the new school year, and while it will be sad to see the end of summer, we have had a fabulous couple of months. Every year our summer program gets better and better and this year we took more field trips, participated in more events and served more kids than ever before.
Finally, it is with great sadness that we say good-bye to a BGCLT stalwart. Kelly Giardina (nee Garrity) has been with the Club for nearly a decade. Starting out as the Teen Program Leader, Kelly was instrumental in keeping the Club going during gaps in Executive Directors, and was a huge help to Jude when she started five years ago. In recent years, Kelly pioneered the highly successful and appreciated hot supper program and kept the Club operations running smoothly. While working at the Club Kelly has also married, become a home owner and a mother to two wonderful children. Kelly moves on to a new position at China Springs Youth Program in NV, and we wish her and her family all the best for the future.
