Superintendent: planned summer program will be run as licensed camp; license triggers health and staffing rules
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Summary
District will apply for a Board of Health camp license for the summer program, allowing a mix of academics and outdoor activities but also requiring compliance with camp regulations, including health staffing.
Superintendent Scott Holcomb told the School Committee on Monday that the planned summer offering will be run under a camp license rather than as an extended-year academic program, and staff are applying to the Board of Health for the required permit.
Holcomb said the committee previously approved a fee of $175 per week and that the program will be offered a la carte across one to six weeks, permitting families to sign up for selected weeks. "We realized...we wanted to offer an eclectic variety of things to do during the summer program," Holcomb said, adding that the camp designation permits combining outdoor activities with academic supports.
Holcomb described the licensing steps and interdepartmental work: the district has been working with John Posey, director of Parks and Recreation, and with Jonathan Abreu, director of the Board of Health, and Bill Corville is assisting with the license application. "We're applying to get a license to operate as a camp," Holcomb said.
The superintendent cautioned that the regulatory classification is nuanced. He told the committee that camp licensure carries distinct rules, including requirements for health staffing: when run as a camp, certain regulations call for a full-time nurse to be present. "If we called it a camp, you gotta apply for a license...camp has also different regulations than...extended learning program. Those regulations are that you have to have a full time nurse on, you know, and present for the camp," a committee member noted during discussion and Holcomb confirmed the licensing route.
Holcomb said families will be informed of program expectations and that the district will set clear behavior and supervision protocols. He said the program will seek the camp license now and that the board of health will review the application before the summer program runs.
No formal vote was taken at the meeting to change the program name because the administration presented the licensing plan as the next step; the committee discussed the implications and clarified expectations for staffing and cost.