By:Chris Munzing
The Long Beach Recreation Department's summer playground program is designed not only to give kids a place to go during the summer, but to provide them with fun, safe activities.
Some of those activities involve trips to places such as Splish Splash, Adventureland, bowling and miniature golf. However, due to the program's non-camp status, the Nassau County Health Department has mandated that off-site bus transportation will no longer be permitted.
The program has sites at the West, East and Lindell schools, Lido elementary and the Afternoon Sports Program at Lindell. Children are bused to and from the program sites if they need transportation. However, busing from the playground program, which runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., to other activities is apparently forbidden by the county if the program doesn't have "camp" certification.
Superintendent of Recreation Robert Carroll explained that the program has "playground" status. "The health department feels as a playground program, we should certify as a camp program," he said. "They're saying you have to stay at the site. It didn't make sense to me. We don't consider ourselves a camp."
Carroll felt that the decision was difficult to comprehend, because there had never been a problem before, and only two weeks remained in the eight-week-long program. Rockville Centre and Oceanside both have similar programs and have had no problems with the county, he explained.
"Why were we singled out?" he asked. According to Carroll, the health department official already had a pre-typed violation and told Carroll to sign it, which he refused to do. He then contacted Long Beach corporation counsel William Holst, who contacted the county and met with its representatives on Tuesday.
"[The officials'] feeling is that if it's a playground program, you have to stay on the playground," said Carroll, who has been with the recreation department for more than 40 years. He doesn't understand how a program that does so much for its participants can be brought to a halt this way. "There were no injuries, no disruptions of any kind," he said of the summer playground program thus far. "It's a learning experience with proper supervision."
As of press time, the situation had yet to be resolved, but Holst explained that the parties were moving toward a solution. "The health department is cooperating and we, in turn, are trying to be cooperative," he said. Holst said he was hopeful that the situation would be resolved within a couple of days.
For the time being, however, all off-site activities that require buses were canceled.
