Township camp closes out early
Afternoon program closed before sign-up period officially started
Robyn Ostrow doesn’t know what her kids will be doing this summer. Neither does Tricia Gerdon. Or Alan Davidson.
All three arrived at least a half-hour before the sign-ups for Ocean Township’s summer camp and afternoon day-care program were supposed to open at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday only to find themselves deep on the waiting list for the afternoon program.
Though Human Services Department workers had told all three that the office would open its doors at 8:30 a.m. to accept the application, an employee was there to take applications before 7 a.m.
"I would have been here at 4 in the morning [had she known that she could have come earlier]," Ostrow said. "It says [in the township’s calendar] that registration begins at 8:30. I was here at 8."
She also said that when she picked up the application for the program, workers in the office at the township’s recreation center told her the doors for registration would open at 8:30 a.m. The sign-up period is listed by the township as stretching from May 1 to June 8. A waiting list for the morning camp was started at about 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday (May 1).
"I made sure a month ago that I could be here for the first hour of the first day so I could sign my kids up, and I can’t," Ostrow, who lives on Westfield Street, said.
Richard Ponton, the director of human services for the township, said it was not opening the registration period early on Wednesday that shut people out of the afternoon program, but the few openings available.
Ponton explained that the morning camp, called Fun in the Sun, is run by the township and can accommodate 375 children while the afternoon program is a continuation of Project Extend, a joint program of the township and the school district that provides after-school care for parents who wish to sign their children up for it. That program accepts only 170 children for the summer and gives preference to students who are signed up for the program during the school year.
"Yesterday, before we opened the door (on Wednesday) we had maybe 10 spots left in that program," Ponton said. "I know they’re disappointed and I don’t blame them, I understand their frustration."
He said he did not think it would make a difference for those who came believing the doors opened at 8:30 a.m. if they had known they could come earlier.
"When you go to Disney World and they say the gates open at 10 a.m., but there is a crowd of people out there they open the gates early," Ponton said.
He added that the human services staff voluntarily comes in early so people can sign their children up and still make it to work.
Ostrow, Gerdon and Davidson all took places on the waiting list for the afternoon program. Their children’s names appear on the third page of the list with about 50 other children on the list ahead of them.
Noting her spot on the list Ostrow wondered why the township to expand the program in view of the apparent demand.
"Obviously people need a full day program for their kids," she said.
Ponton said the programs are limited by space and the desire to maintain a quality program.
"When it rains and you’re providing an all-day program for kids you need indoor facilities and the ability to break them out into smaller groups," Ponton said. "We put kids in buses and send them to different places in town. We’ve also made a decision about quality; we’re not just going to warehouse children."
It is the quality of the program that makes it so attractive, according to Davidson.
"I would be here at 5 a.m. if they told me they opened the doors at 7," Davidson said. "It’s terrible, my son’s going to be devastated. It wouldn’t be that big a deal if this wasn’t such a good place to bring the kids. It’s run well and the kids love it.
Having been shut out of the township’s program Gerdon said she is now at loose ends.
"I was surprised and there’s no type of warning," the Berger Avenue resident said. "I feel like I’ve lost time and now I have to go and find another camp."