Boys & Girls Club closing for summer

Due to low enrollment for the summer program, the La Conner Boys & Girls Club will close on Friday.

According to Ron McHenry, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Skagit County, the clubs in Anacortes and Mount Vernon are seeing record summer enrollment, but in La Conner only about 15 kids signed up.

“Some days there were only 9,” McHenry said.

The cost of the summer program is $100 per week, but “we’re lowering the price to $75 for La Conner parents to help pick up the cost of gas and time to get to another club,” he said.

Kendrick Davis-Pittmon, the director of the La Conner Club will be based in Anacortes for the summer. That’s where most of the La Conner kids are going.

As an added bonus, the children will be served breakfast and lunch free, McHenry said.

Anacortes is expecting an enrollment of 25 to 30 for the morning session, and 60 to 70 during the day.

During the school year, La Conner served an average of 35 to 45 children every day after school, McHenry said. La Conner’s school year enrollment was up by more than 10 percent over the previous year.

Because the school-year enrollment has been growing, the drop-off in summer session sign-ups, despite weeks of recruiting efforts, came as a surprise to the club, he said.

The club’s staff attributes the reduction in need to local children becoming old enough for their parents to trust them at home for the summer and also to several families who decided to move out of the area at the end of the school year.

The decision to close the La Conner club for the summer was made by the club’s board and staff on Thursday when the enrollment figures were presented.

“The low number of youth enrolled to participate would limit our ability to serve them effectively and compromise their club experience,” said Stephanie Hooper, president of the Board of Directors in a written statement. “The decision was a difficult one, but truly made with the best interests of our members in mind.”

McHenry said it’s too late to register for La Conner now because there is not enough lead time get staff in place for a summer program here.

Still, he said, La Conner parents are putting together carpools to transport their children to Anacortes or Mount Vernon.

La Conner’s Boys & Girls Club is scheduled to reopen when school starts.

The first day of school in La Conner is Wednesday, Sept. 2.