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Guilford Moves Summer Camp to Schools, with Restrictions on Activities and Capacity

Campers in Guilford this summer are going to see radical changes in the structure, activities, and procedures of camp this year, with the town likely to limit its overall capacity by one-third to one-half, and all sports and specialty camps canceled.

Parks & Recreation Rick Maynard and First Selectman Matt Hoey said that while the situation remains fluid, the town is currently planning on moving campers from its regular Camp Menunkatuck to schools, with a limit of 30 kids per site, a number dictated by the state.

Both staff and campers will be required to wear masks and will have their temperatures checked daily, Maynard said, while protocols related to sharing everything from scissors to snacks will be strictly enforced to prevent possible transmission of coronavirus.

Additionally, the beginning of camp is being pushed back one week to June 29, also in accordance with state requirements.

Though right now the town is only committing to two sites, Hoey said he was optimistic that the town could find a way to use Jacobs Beach on a rotating basis, with each group of 30 getting regular chances to use the beach.

“We’re looking hard at the possibility of three different sites, one of which will be the beach, and they can rotate the camp so that every camper gets a day or two of beach experience,” Hoey said. “It’s the kind of creative thinking that everyone is being forced to do.”

A third school site would then be reserved for beach campers when inclement weather made that location unviable, Hoey said.

“We all understand why we have to do this. We’re thankful we can provide something at least,” Maynard said. “We already talked to some people in the community who said, ‘Oh good, you’re going to have camp!’”

There are still some logistics to work out as far as the beach site, according to Hoey, with questions about how to maintain social distancing with 30 kids joining other beachgoing residents, as well as transporting campers back to the school in the event of a sudden thunderstorm.

Likely, the town would have to use more than one bus, probably the senior center buses that aren’t being used as much for other things during the pandemic, according to Hoey.

“It’s easily accommodated,” Hoey said. “We have the capacity, we have the buses, we have people who are being paid to work to do those kinds of things.”

Regardless, each site will host 30 kids, broken down further into groups of 10 led by a single counselor with each site overseen by a camp director, according to Maynard. Campers will not be allowed to interact with staff or other campers outside of that 10-person group, again, in accordance with recently released state guidelines.

The reason for this is to compartmentalize and ensure any possible infection can only spread so far within the camp system, Maynard said.

Right now the town is determining whether it will be able to open two or three schools, he said. A third school site would necessitate the hiring of another directorial position, according to Maynard, as normally the town only employs one director and one assistant director.

In years’ past, the town has hosted about 120 kids at the camp, according to Maynard.

The state has also disallowed any sort of travel or specialty activities, things like archery or trips to a lake to go canoing. Pre-school programs are also disallowed by the state, he said.

“Anything that is not...an all day program and is more of recreational activity, the law still is, for any social or recreational gathering, no more than five people,” Maynard said.

Many of those sports or specialty camps traditionally only ran for a couple hours, Maynard said, and even if the town wanted to put together an activity with four kids and a counselor, it would not be financially viable and would still exist on shaky legal ground.

Regular Camp Menunkatuck campers will also not have access to extra activities like rented bounce houses or field trips due to the possibility of spreading an infection, Maynard said.

Because the town will definitely not be able to host as many campers, Hoey said there would likely be decreased cost for staff, which would offset this decrease in revenues. The town also has the potential to get reimbursement for any losses through recently passed legislation at the federal and state level, according to Hoey.

There will be no increased fees for camps, according to Maynard, regardless of whether or not the town has to pay more with the new format.

“We’re going to give the best service we can possibly give, but those services are going to be different from what they were at camp in past years,” Maynard said.

For more information or to register for camp, visit www.guilfordparkrec.com.