What About the Summer?

Normally at this time of the year we are busy making plans for the summer and getting paperwork ready to sign up over 300 children for our summer program.  But this year, with summer just 4 months away, we are not yet in a position to know what the summer is going to look like.

Back in the early summer of 2020, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) issued guidance regarding youth programs/summer camps and it has not changed since then.  The guidance still restricts us to smaller group sizes, social distancing and no interaction between groups.  Following the guidance and having strict mask and cleaning protocols has served us well.  We have not escaped COVID, but we have managed to limit the impact on our operations.

The local trend on COVID-19 cases is looking very favorable, but without widespread immunizations, it is unlikely that we will see a complete return to normal by the start of the summer vacation.  Therefore we are working on the assumption that summer 2021 will look very similar to summer 2020, with a smaller number of enrollments and restricted field trips and activities.  That is a very depressing sentence to type.  BUT, feedback from 2020 was that the kids loved the summer with us.  Even though we couldn’t do all the activities of previous summers, we were able to use the smaller group sizes and do some really great and engaging programs and we will be looking to build on that and offer even more socially distanced fun this year.

We will only be offering a ‘Summer Camp’ program that covers just the summer vacation.  Sign ups for the school year will happen towards the end of the summer when we have a clearer indication of District plans for the academic year.

Social distancing, masks, small group sizes etc will still be required.

Priority will be given to children who have been at the Club during the school year.  We will then allocate the remaining places in each group, with priority given to essential workers or those who have to be at their place of work in order to be paid.

If you have a credit on file at the Club they are evergreen.  So if you can’t use them for the summer, then hopefully you can for the school year but that credit will never go away.  If you don’t think you’ll need the Club again, or you have other more immediate needs for the money, then you can also apply for a reimbursement.  This is ONLY for deposits and payments made in the spring of 2020 for 2020 whole year or afterschool memberships that went unused.

The Summer Camp sign up process will most likely start in May, when we have a clearer idea of CDC guidance for this summer.

The program will be advertised on BAND, social media and our website www.bgclt.org.

Like the past 12 months; if anything changes in our plans; we’ll let you know!