Fees Shrink, Improve Summer Rec

In less than a week, the wristbands will be out, on arms and ankles and wherever else kids can show them off.

They’re nondescript, stretchy bands with a numbered tag–but they’re also badges of honor, signifying membership in West Deptford’s summer rec program.

It wasn’t long ago that the program had swelled to 1,100 kids–a size that bordered on unmanageable for the staff.

“It was not a healthy environment,” recreation director Greg Ley said. “The program was too big.”

But after instituting a $200 per child fee last year, that number dropped to about a quarter of the size, with 228 kids, all of them with that signature wristband and all of them able to be tracked as they bounce around the rec program’s activities.

The fee was a tough step, Committeewoman Donna Szymborski said, but a necessary one, and it’s paid dividends.

Turning the program into a smaller one means it’s more controlled and less chaotic, a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed, Ley said. Besides the day-to-day operation being easier, they’ve gone from taking six busloads of kids and chaperones on the three field trips–one to the Philadelphia Zoo, one to the Adventure Aquarium and one to the Franklin Institute–down to four busloads.

“When you go from six busloads to four, it’s almost easy,” Ley said. “It’s just so much better.”

That fee means a large portion of the cost–about $42,000 out of a total of about $57,000–of the program is now borne by those who actually use it. Not everyone wanted the full program, Ley said, and they offer a la carte rec, as well, with individual sports clinics for $10 and trips for $15, as well as an optional latch key program that runs $10 per day, whether mornings or afternoons.

Szymborski said they considered bumping up the charge this year or opening the program to the children of people who work in West Deptford, but the committee ultimately nixed those ideas to avoid putting an increased burden on families and the staff.

“It’s really working well with the amount of children we have and the amount of counselors we have,” she said.