MORGANTOWN — On Aug. 15, five days before Tuesday’s first day of school, the Mountaineer Boys & Girls Club contacted parents to inform them that before and/or after school activities will be held at most of the schools that previously hosted those programs.
That programming will start the second week of school, on Aug. 26.
Additionally, the correspondence explains that the club’s main facility, the old Woodburn school, will not be available this fall “to make sure renovations and fixes can be completed in a timely manner.”
About a month ago the national organization — Boys & Girls Clubs of America — mandated the temporary closure of the local club and suspension of summer programming, citing the need for “several operational improvements.”
It was explained that those improvements also include renovations to the Woodburn facility.
At the time, the club only offered vague explanations as to what those operational improvements entailed, pointing mainly to a lack of institutional consistency, while the national organization conceded, “Some of the operational enhancements will be safety related.”
Club representatives said they were focused on getting back in time for the before and after school programs this fall.
According to the email circulated to parents on Thursday, the MBGC will hold after school programming from 3:30- 6 p.m. at Brookhaven Elementary and Mylan Park Elementary.
Before and after school programming will be offered at Mountainview Elementary and Ridgedale Elementary. Before school programming runs from 7- 8:30 a.m.
Additionally, 20 students from Eastwood Elementary can register for after school programming at Mountainview.
North Elementary, which previously hosted programming, isn’t listed, nor is University High School.
One parent, who forwarded the emails to The Dominion Post and asked not to be identified, said her family was forced to find another, more expensive, program as work schedules make after school and summer care a necessity.
“I was willing to hang on because my daughter really likes her teachers with BGC, and we haven’t had a problem until now,” she said. “Ended up we were given less than a week’s notice that they would be operating in the schools only. What they don’t mention is that this is not all of the school sites.”
She went on to say “The lack of communication with parents has been horrible … There is still no information on what exactly happened.”
The email to parents explains that programming will be limited to school sites this year and that no-school day care will not be offered on occasions like snow days or holidays.
It also points out that “this year we have very limited spots,” with current club members getting first priority. Registration began on Aug. 15. New member registration opens on Monday.
All programming at the school sites will be free of charge for the 2019-’20 school year.
Directions on how to register online, can be found at mbgcafterschool.com/summer-2018.
The Dominion Post attempted to get additional information from both the local club and national organization.
Eric Murphy, a board member with the Mountaineer Boys and Girls Club agreed to provide additional information but did not.
The national organization did not respond.
