Parks And Rec Should Check Out Destinations Before Scheduling Trips

To the Editor:

A recent incident regarding the summer camp policies of the Parks and Recreation Department has come to my attention and should be a concern to all parents who have children attending camps in Newtown.

My 5½-year-old granddaughter attends one of these camps and she brought home a flyer detailing a planned field trip to a wildlife park. The flyer did not provide the location of the park, which seemed to be an oversight by the individual who prepared the flyer, so I called Parks and Recreation and also inquired about the lunches that would be available at the park. The flyer stated that the children should “bring lunch or purchase it.” I was told that there was no information about what food was available because they had never been to this park before.

I called the wildlife park myself and was informed that there is no food available for purchase. When I spoke with Parks and Recreation again, I was told that locations such as this one are selected for field trips based on information received at entertainment shows attended by Parks and Recreation personnel. Then I was told by another staff member that this particular park was chosen by visiting their website. The website has no information regarding available food at the park.

As a result of my calls, the Parks and Recreation Department had to print revised flyers instructing parents to provide lunches for this trip. If the original flyers had not been changed, many parents would have sent their children on this trip with money to buy food and these children would have had no lunch that day.

It appears that whenever a new site for a field trip is selected, there is no policy in place for a personal visit by someone from Parks and Recreation to obtain all of the necessary information to convey to parents.

I strongly recommend to the Parks and Recreation Department that such a policy be adopted. It is imperative that if we are to trust our children to be taken to parks that have not been visited before, that prior personal visits be conducted to ensure that these places are safe and clean, that there are adequate bathroom facilities, proper eating areas, shelters in case of bad weather, available food and drink, etc. There is no substitute for a personal walk-through and inspection to assess the appropriateness of a park and to best plan how the visit will be conducted. This is the kind of information that cannot be gleaned from a website and is certainly in the best interest of our children.

George J. Caracciolo

Schoolhouse Hill Road, Newtown                                   July 26, 2004