04-13-13 Special Meeting of La Porte City Council

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• Recreation and educational activities were scheduled throughout the day and transportation is coordinated for some events through the Harris County bus service (i.e. trips to the San Jacinto/Wave Pools). Movies, a field trip to an Astros game, Seabreeze Fishing trips, and bowling are examples of the types of activities scheduled throughout the summer • Children sign in for the meal only and are free to participate in the scheduled activities, or not, throughout the day. This differs from the Harris County Summer Camp, which required participants to stay in the program all day, until picked up by a parent at the end of the day (the Evelyn Kennedy Summer Camp has the same restriction). Staffing and Transportation We currently have three permanent staff positions, one for each of the recreation centers. During the summer months, we supplement the regular staffing with four seasonal employees, normally high school students who help keep order, organize games and activities, and generally support the regular staff during the special events and camps. Two are assigned to Jennie Riley/Charles Walker Recreation Center, one at Evelyn Kennedy Civic Center, and one at Brookglen Recreation Center. For the three weeks of the traditional Summer Camp, staff is redistributed with 4 staff at EK, 3 at Northside, and 1 at Brookglen. Total P&RD summer staffing for recreational programming, including all summer special events, camps, recreation center operation, D.A.R.E. and Track and Field, and two supervisors, is eleven. Transportation for these programs is shared with the Senior Program and the Special Needs Program. We have one bus each and one van each, assigned to these two programs, and a single van assigned to Recreation. The Senior and SP buses and vans are scheduled in advance for the whole summer with each of those programs getting top priority for their own use. The Recreation programs get the remainder of the time that is not being used by the Senior and Special Programs. Our biggest limitation for expansion is that our five transportation units are shared by the two other programs (Seniors and Special Programs) so the bus and van time has to be shared between all the competing groups. Comparisons • Northside summer program provides needed meals as well as recreation opportunities, in a less structured environment. Traditional Summer Camp at Evelyn Kennedy provides more structured, supervised setting where children are not given access to come and go. • When the County co-operated the Northside Camp, there were two separate operations; the county's camp, while free of charge was exclusive in that the parental authorization for participation was required; the City operated one was "participate if you like"; but both groups were able to participate in the free lunch program. • While the Northside program is free of charge and lasts all summer, the Evelyn Kennedy Camps consists of three one week sessions and participants are charged a $60 weekly fee for participation. The $60 goes to pay for the special events (i.e. bowling, Wave Pool, movies, snacks, etc.) that take place during the week. • During the time that the summer camp sessions are not taking place at Evelyn Kennedy and Brookglen, staff also provides a program very similar to that at Northside, without the meals program.