Bellmore-Merrick Central District, JCC offering summer camp

Finding the right summer experience for a middle school-age child is, no doubt, tough for parents. The Bellmore-Merrick Central School District and the Barry and Florence Friedberg Jewish Community Center, with offices in Merrick and Oceanside, are teaming up this summer to provide a reasonably priced, fun-filled camp for children entering seventh and eighth grades in September.

Saul Lerner, the Central District’s director of health, physical education and athletics, said, “We’ve always wanted something for the kids to do” over the summer.

Dr. Henry Kiernan, the district’s superintendent, recently asked Lerner to explore the possibility of opening a summer camp at the Brookside School in North Merrick, where the district’s administrative offices are located. Lerner met with representatives of the JCC and the district’s middle school principals to create a program, which is modeled after the summer camp that the JCC runs for students in kindergarten through sixth grade in the Bellmore Elementary School District.

The Central District and the JCC developed a six-week program that will run from July 9 to Aug. 17, five days a week, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to Alice Markinson, who will serve as the camp director.

Lerner noted that the non-denominational camp will be self-sustaining and will be at no cost to local taxpayers. He added that it is not intended to compete with already established camps, but rather to offer an opportunity to Central District middle-schoolers with no plans for the summer.

At the camp, students will take part in athletics, arts and crafts, music, drama and field trips. The camp fee is $1,395. Students must provide their lunches, but the camp will offer snacks.

“There is no downside to this,” Lerner said.