College Heights to End Relationship with YMCA
Decatur Metro | August 12, 2010UPDATE: CSD’s Bruce Roaden provides a bit more detail regarding the “actions by YMCA staff…involving supervision of students”, which was referenced in the Superintendent’s letter…
During summer camp in 2009 (operated by the YMCA’s Summer Camp Staff) a student was unaccounted for at the end of a field trip when the group returned to the ECLC. The child was located and Y staff and the parent were in communication. After this incident training and staff changes were made.
On a subsequent NAEYC visit there were some transportation forms the Y staff had not completed correctly.
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Many parents have been writing in since yesterday afternoon reporting that a letter from Superintendent Phyllis Edwards was sent home with College Heights students yesterday announcing that City Schools of Decatur will end its relationship with the YMCA, which runs the 0-3 year-old and summer programs at College Heights, at the end of the calendar year.
According to the letter, the reason for the separation is that “some actions by the YMCA staff (particularly involving supervision of students) has put the school’s National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) at risk.
The Superintendent goes on to reassure parents that College Heights is CSD’s highest priority and that they are “already working on plans to find another partner to operate these programs or make the determination that it is feasible for CSD to operate the 0-3 program.”
You can read the full letter after the jump (thanks to a transcribing by one parent) or see the actual letter in PDF HERE (thanks to another parent) .
I’m going to follow up with CSD to see if I can get a bit more info on what sort of issues with supervision led to the concerns by NAEYC.
Dear College Heights Parents,
I want to inform you that late last week we were told by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) that our accreditation with them is in danger of being revoked. As is our practice in the City Schools of Decatur, we want to be open and forthright with any information regarding our programs or schools
Our zero to three year old, after school care and summer programs (at ECLC) have been the responsibility of our YMCA of Decatur partners. There have been some actions by the YMCA staff (particularly involving supervision of students) that has put our accreditation at risk. Indeed staff changes were made and a variety of practices and trainings were in place, however, I believe that it is no longer in the best interest of our families for this partnership to continue. We will mutually end our partnership as of December 31, 2010.
I want to reassure you that your College Heights student is our highest priority. It is our intention to provide continuity in your child’s teacher and program and we anticipate no change in service at the Early Childhood Learning Center.
We have done a great deal of work in training; curriculum development and provision of appropriate materials and play areas to ensure that this program is of the highest quality. The City Schools of Decatur is already working on plans to find another partner to operate these programs or make the determination that it is feasible for CSD to operate the 0-3 program. We are committed to the 0-3 program at College Heights.
Please know that we are not required to have NAEYC Accreditation in order to operate ECLC. We have taken this extra voluntary step to meet the highest possible standard for our students. We are prepared to appeal any negative decision by NAEYC or take the necessary steps to be accredited.
Mrs. Kennedy and I have been in communication with CSD board members, Mr. Bill McCoy of the YMCA, the ECLC Advisory Council, CSD teachers and staff, and the YMCA teachers and staff. We will keep you informed as we move through this process.
Sincerely,
Dr. Phyllis A. Edwards, Ed.D.
I commend Dr. Edwards for wanting to maintain NAEYC accreditation and for sharing the information in this letter.
I can’t comment on the current situation at CHLC. We have used its YMCA after care program. in the past There were some fine staff in that program then. However, the program always felt inferior to me compared to the Decatur Rec Animal Crackers program which seemed more organized, enriching, warm, and caring, with better trained staff. I always wished that Decatur Rec could do after care for CHLC too but I think CSD had a package deal with YMCA to do both 0-3 and preK after care. It was one of those things that sounded good on paper but I thought it would have been better to split off the preK after care and ask Decatur Rec to get the certification and staff to handle four year olds. They handle 5 year olds so well that I was sure they would serve 4 year olds well too.
I’m just curious. There’s no motivation behind my questions but is the 0-3 program self-maintaining in terms of cost? i.e. does the monthly tuition that parents pay offset the costs of the program? I know the school receives state funds via the lottery for the Pre-K program.
I was wondering too– because it may matter significantly for parents who are paying for their little ones. I don;t know what the landscape is in terms of other service providers. The only one I have any experience with was Bright Horizons. It was exceptional, but it was also pretty expensive.
And ditto what Karass said about the committment to maintaining NAEYC accreditation. The state of Georgia’s standards for day care are alarmingly low in many respects. NAEYC is the gold standard, and it’s also expensive and time-consuming to meet. It’s great to see CSD committed to the very best for the littlest Decaturites.
CSD’s Bruce Roaden provided a few specifics about the “supervision of children” issue that the Superintendent cited in her letter.
See the update at the top of the original post.
Um… it seems like this is one instance where Dr. Edwards might should have waited for the public to demand the complete accounting. Now it looks like she just took a swipe at a very valuable community organization. She’s right, but still…
(Isn’t this why they promoted Bruce Roaden? To get the pr part right?)
Do you mean the YMCA? I love the YMCA for their health and exercise programs, classes, and facilities, including youth athletics. However, many of us in Decatur have had inferior experiences with after care and/or summer camps compared to Decatur Rec. I’m not saying the care is unacceptable but it’s not what you get at Decatur Rec, Color Wheel, or First Baptist summer camps or after care. I was surprised when the YMCA was selected to be the provider at the ECLC.
I mean:
The Y’s a very valuable community organization. If there’s a problem with the Y’s childcare that includes misplacing one kid & then failing to fixing their procedures, then Dr Edwards is right to “86” them. She should’ve just given a brief press statement & banked on the parents to demand the details. Better yet, it’d be a good idea to leave the p.r. duties to Bruce Reardon.
This seems like really big news. What are the implications of CSD taking over the 0-3 program? I’m assuming the 0-3 staff and faculty are hired by the YMCA? Is that correct? So will they continue to teach/work there after December?
Did anyone else see this coming? It feels like it really came out of the blue. And there was no mention at this week’s board meeting, right?
How much power does the Dr. Edwards have?
These apparent unilateral decisions are becoming too common place. I’m not aware of the College Heights PTA (paying customers) being informed of a pending change at all.
2) Is it really “open communication” if you’ve already made the decision based on a set of facts that only you had?
I never received a single notice of letter regarding any substantive issues with the YMCA program at College Heights. While there was always turnover in the after-school portion of the program, I thought the day/classroom program was excellent. To be honest, all things considered exceptional given that it’s day care.
Dropping the YMCA in a relatively “out-of-the-blue” manner seems a bit impulsive. Yes, you have to protect accreditation, but I wouldn’t think it could be lost from 1 review. Unless there were other non-disclosed negative reviews in the past. My understanding was that the program was doing well from a NAEYC perspective.
Well, as long as CSD doesn’t have to end up funding 0-3 childcare. There’s barely enough money for K-12.
Barely enough money for pk-12? What are you talking about? We’ve got an exceptionally well-funded public school system! In contrast to other systems, we’re not furloughing or laying off teachers. We have students who pay tuition to attend our schools.
I honestly don’t know how they funded the 0-3 program, but I’d be surprised if it weren’t being sefl-sustaining or somehow underwritten by Decatur. BTW, lots of studies have shown that the best way to improve student achievement is to invest in the early years…pre-k, etc.
My child just started at College Heights this fall, so I don’t have any history with Dr. Edwards or Bruce Reardon mentioned by a few here. That said, I was fairly alarmed to hear that there had been an incident of a child being lost on a field trip. That is a huge deal! I haven’t been terribly impressed with the Y staff at the aftercare program so far, and this news certainly didn’t do anything to bolster my confidence. I realize that the Y is a great organization, but if there have been serious problems with the basic safety of kids under their care (and I, for one, would put losing a kid as a serious safety issue!), then I don’t have a problem with ending the relationship.
Agree-I cannot believe we didn’t hear about this problem when it happened. I just read this week about a child who was left in a van in Florida in this heat. I just can’t believe we were not informed of the situation when it happened. We’re finding out a year later? So we put our kids in those hands all last year without knowing that a) something happened, and b) something was done about it?
I have never understood why programs particularly summer camps with young children feel that field trips are necessary…. the kids seem way too young, and in a summer program wehre enrollment can be different week to week it seems so risky to take them off premise. I work downtown and see these field trips during summer and kids whining, and stressed out care givers and alway swonder why they do it . At that age they don’t know how to speak up and say gee johnny isn’t here….
I was not impressed with the YMCA aftercare or 0-3 at College Heights. I have also been thoroughly disappointed at the quality of childcare at the Decatur YMCA during summer camps and in the playroom. For instance, this summer a counselor repeatedly fussed at and micromanaged kids who were (gasp!) squealing while playing in a baby pool/ sprinkler outside. Apparently, they were also not very good at (gasp again!) lining up silently. It’s not rocket science- but it DOES take training and experience.
Why is it so common and acceptable for Y counselors to yell at kids? My teens still talk about their horrible camp experiences at the Decatur YMCA and that was years ago. They talk about it as it were some long trial that they survived. My husband has never let any of their younger siblings attend any YMCA camps or childcare with the exception of gymnastics (Kim is great).
I wonder if the problem is systemic because I have experienced similar incompetence at the East Lake YMCA. I once found a 3 year- old sobbing alone, petrified, in the bathroom. She had been sent alone by the counselor but the door was too heavy for the child to open to get out of the bathroom. The counselor didn’t know she was missing. The room they were using for this camp was right next to the yoga room and throughout class we could hear the counselor fussing and fussing and fussing at the kids. We stopped class. I spoke with the director. Absurd.
I am happy to see this partership end. Losing a child on a fieldtrip is inexcusable. Several years ago I witnessed problems with the Y staff at College Heights not following basic NAEYC protocol such as putting children on their backs to sleep. how do you forget that? One tour of the 0-3 and I was sure that my chIld would not go there. In contrast, Pre- K was amazing.
Losing NAEYC or having another child endangered would have had Decaturites pointing the finger at CSD and saying that they should have acted sooner. It’s time to amputate the bad leg before the putrification continues.