Our Safety Policies and Practices

Dear Parents,

Our top goal each day is safety. I founded the camp in 1994 and have been the day to day Director ever since. We have never had any incident with child safety or abuse. We have been to the emergency room once in 19 years ( and that was for a minor injury) and have never had a heat related injury. I want our camp to be the safest, most trusted camp in the nation. We are blessed to have many camp parents in education, medicine, military and law enforcement who work closely with us to create and implement policies and practices that make this a reality.

I have asked a team of current or past camp parents to form our Safety Advisory Team which will volunteer to review and advise on our camp safety policies. They include:

  • Chairman
    Assistant Chief of Police Rodney T. Parks, Washingon Metropolitan Police Department
    Assistant Chief Parks joined the force in 1982 and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy. He has a breadth of experience in divisions including Homicide, Criminal Investigations, Internal Affairs, Traffic and Police Academy. He is a native Washingtonian, has worked every part of our city and has deep roots in the community. Assistant Chief Parks has four children and two grandchildren. He is a current camp parent.
  • Dr. Mary Furlong, MD
  • Mrs. Sha Lepore, Esq. Brooklyn, Mother of two current campers
  • Rev. Joy Wallis, Washington, Mother of a current camper and staff coach
  • Dr. Brendan Furlong, MD
  • Scott Gold, President Capitol City Little League
  • Lieutenant Anthony Haithe, DC Police
  • James G. Mauro, Esq., President Emeritus Northwest Washington Little League
  • Patrick Pope, Principal Savoy Elementary School DCPS

We also work closely with our host facilities and their staff to implement our policies. These include the Washington D.C. and New York City Parks and Recreation Departments and Washington D.C Public Schools.

I welcome any feedback or suggestions from camp parents on how we can improve. Every parent is welcome to visit camp anytime and dialogue with me or my team on any of these topics.

Our top policies include:

  1. No child is ever unsupervised by adult coaches and staff at our camps. Campers are supervised at lunch and on bathroom breaks as well. All minor injuries must be reported to parents by the end of the day.
  2. Every employee over 18 is subject to an annual Law Enforcement Background Check. Almost 95% of our staff are camp alumni. We have Veteran, Senior Staff on site for every single camp program we offer year round. Four of our Assistant Directors are full time teachers.
  3. No coach or staff member will ever be alone with a camper.
  4. All campers and staff leave the field of play for indoors at the first sign of thunder, not lightning.
  5. We dismiss every camper to their parents or a designated person. Two senior staff will wait with any child not picked up on time.
  6. We have designated staff who monitor the site locations the entire camp day.
  7. We welcome as our guests children of active Police and ask they make regular camp visits on off days and get to know our camp staff and culture.
  8. No staff or coaches ever leave the camp site with a camper for any reason. We call 911 and then the child’s parents in case of emergency.
  9. We train our entire staff annually on our entire safety protocol and our team leaders are up to date for CPR/First Aid training.
  10. Finally, any staff or coach who fails to meet these guidelines may be subject to disciplinary action including but not limited to dismissal.

Sincerely,
John McCarthy
Director