Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YMCA camps are inexpensive BECAUSE they are staffed by HS kids
Sometimes they are terrific, most times not so much. You want well educated, well trained staff at your child's camp? You have to pay for that.

This has NOT been our experience at the Ayrlawn YMCA camps. College students + full-time / full-year adult employees appear to be the norm.
Pricing around $275/week.

Does this include aftercare? Our camps in DC/MoCo usually range from $400-500/week including aftercare.

That does not include aftercare OR annual YMCA membership fee

For 1 week of camp it is:
membership fee: $62
Camp fee: $240
Before / aftercare $90

Total cost: ~$400

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YMCA camps are inexpensive BECAUSE they are staffed by HS kids
Sometimes they are terrific, most times not so much. You want well educated, well trained staff at your child's camp? You have to pay for that.

This has NOT been our experience at the Ayrlawn YMCA camps. College students + full-time / full-year adult employees appear to be the norm.
Pricing around $275/week.

Does this include aftercare? Our camps in DC/MoCo usually range from $400-500/week including aftercare.

That does not include aftercare OR annual YMCA membership fee

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YMCA camps are inexpensive BECAUSE they are staffed by HS kids
Sometimes they are terrific, most times not so much. You want well educated, well trained staff at your child's camp? You have to pay for that.

This has NOT been our experience at the Ayrlawn YMCA camps. College students + full-time / full-year adult employees appear to be the norm.
Pricing around $275/week.

Does this include aftercare? Our camps in DC/MoCo usually range from $400-500/week including aftercare.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YMCA camps are inexpensive BECAUSE they are staffed by HS kids
Sometimes they are terrific, most times not so much. You want well educated, well trained staff at your child's camp? You have to pay for that.

This has NOT been our experience at the Ayrlawn YMCA camps. College students + full-time / full-year adult employees appear to be the norm.
Pricing around $275/week.

That is not cheap for large group care. I don't care how many camps in the area can charge more.

It's not cheap in general. It is cheaper than many camps in this area, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YMCA camps are inexpensive BECAUSE they are staffed by HS kids
Sometimes they are terrific, most times not so much. You want well educated, well trained staff at your child's camp? You have to pay for that.

This has NOT been our experience at the Ayrlawn YMCA camps. College students + full-time / full-year adult employees appear to be the norm.
Pricing around $275/week.

That is not cheap for large group care. I don't care how many camps in the area can charge more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please report this to DC.

This is the fourth report I have heard about major problems at the Bowen YMCA summer camp.

Where do I report this? What agency?

OSSE seems like a starting place, as they are the licensing entity for childcare providers.
https://osse.dc.gov/service/early-learning-complaints-and-unusual-incident-reporting

summer camps aren't licenced by OSSR.

But OSSE licenses their daycare programming and afterschool care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please report this to DC.

This is the fourth report I have heard about major problems at the Bowen YMCA summer camp.

Where do I report this? What agency?

OSSE seems like a starting place, as they are the licensing entity for childcare providers.
https://osse.dc.gov/service/early-learning-complaints-and-unusual-incident-reporting

summer camps aren't licenced by OSSR.

Anonymous wrote:YMCA camps are inexpensive BECAUSE they are staffed by HS kids
Sometimes they are terrific, most times not so much. You want well educated, well trained staff at your child's camp? You have to pay for that.

This has NOT been our experience at the Ayrlawn YMCA camps. College students + full-time / full-year adult employees appear to be the norm.
Pricing around $275/week.

I feel like I need to respond to the folks who say the camp is "cheap." I don't care how much or how little I am paying for child care (of any kind). No child should be abused while they are in the care and custody of an authorized adult. I don't care if the care is free, or if costs a million dollars a week. It is absurd to think that if you pay a little, you should expect your kid to be abused.

We've been at camps with high school counselors, you just have to supervise and train them well. In this case, it seems like neither happened.

Anonymous wrote:OP I have a 6yo too and this really upset me. Have you gone in and spoken to the director?
We only did 5 weeks of camp this summer but they have all been good so far.

I haven't spoken with him but he emailed back to say he was really upset and that they were going to spring into action. But it seems like a more systematic failure.

Luckily, my kid is super verbal and she was able to communicate all of this to me (but really only after I told her she didn't have to go back). I worry about the other kids who are younger or aren't able to communicate as well.

OP I have a 6yo too and this really upset me. Have you gone in and spoken to the director?
We only did 5 weeks of camp this summer but they have all been good so far.

YMCA camps are NOT cheap.


They're not free, but they're much cheaper than the Calleva/Sidwell tier of camps.


Yes, but we're talking about camps for normal people here.

I'm a normal person and I think that the YMCA camps are relatively cheap. They're much cheaper than any other camp we have done this summer, including the basic silver knights chess camp, swimming camp and soccer camp through our county rec program, and a lego robotics camp through a private provider.

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that YMCA overnight camps have such a great reputation? Is this localized to DC?

It might be. The YMCA’s in this area are always chancey on the staffing.
Everyone hires high school kids as counselors but you need to train them and you need good supervisors for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YMCA camps are inexpensive BECAUSE they are staffed by HS kids
Sometimes they are terrific, most times not so much. You want well educated, well trained staff at your child's camp? You have to pay for that.

YMCA camps are NOT cheap.

They're not free, but they're much cheaper than the Calleva/Sidwell tier of camps.

Yes, but we're talking about camps for normal people here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YMCA camps are inexpensive BECAUSE they are staffed by HS kids
Sometimes they are terrific, most times not so much. You want well educated, well trained staff at your child's camp? You have to pay for that.

YMCA camps are NOT cheap.

They're not free, but they're much cheaper than the Calleva/Sidwell tier of camps.