That will be the model for Adventures Plus’ summer care program, which will be open to everyone starting June 17, though at dramatically decreased participation numbers primarily because of COVID-19.
“We have been hearing from a lot of families that they’re still umemployed and still working from home,” said Adventures Plus Supervisor Tiffany Weeks. “We’ve actually had quite a few families that were originally registered in the summer program before everything started that have since withdrawn.”
Weeks said in Summer 2019, there were 2,400 students participating in the program at a ratio of 15 kids to every one adult staff member. So far, for Summer 2020 there are fewer than 900 signed up at a ratio of nine to one. The other major contributing factor to the smaller participation is the change in allowing for part-time attendance. The district now requires that participants who register do so on a full-time schedule for the entire summer (June 17-August 28).
“The state guidelines have really been enforcing those small and consistent groups…that didn’t change throughout the summer,” said Weeks.
She also said another staple of summer care programs, field trips, will not happen. Many of the sites the program would visit are not open or can not accommodate social distancing properly.
“Our staff are very creative–they’re creating a lot of virtual field trips,” said Weeks. “A lot of the zoos, farms, museums, and other community businesses are offering up virtual field trips, so we can plan on doing a lot of that this summer.”
Adventures Plus is the North Metro’s largest single child care provider, said Weeks. She said the district is committed to providing what it can so that families have what they need this summer and year-round.
“What the guidelines were last week are different than what they were (the week before), so it’s been a real process to just stay completely up to date and change our protocols,” said Weeks.
