Education

Coop Camp reaches funding goal for 2016 session

After much hustling by a trio of Mamaroneck Union Free School District parents, the final piece of funding for the start of Coop Camp is in place. At the June 7 meeting of the Board of Education, volunteers Jon Sacks and Sarah Coady presented the district with a check for $93,000. The money will complete the funding mission set in motion when the 2016-2017 school budget, passed on May 17, cut the Coop Camp’s funds from $160,000 to $20,000.

Volunteers Jon Sacks, far left, and Sarah Coady get ready to present a replica of the $93,000 check to the Mamaroneck Union Free School District and Board of Education members for Coop Camp, which serves about 200 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Photo courtesy Debbie Manetta
Volunteers Jon Sacks, far left, and Sarah Coady get ready to present a replica of the $93,000 check to the Mamaroneck Union Free School District and Board of Education members for Coop Camp, which serves about 200 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Photo courtesy Debbie Manetta

“We’ve been scrambling for the money to keep the camp since the budget vote,” Sacks said.

Two hundred and twenty-two children, including 50 students in special education, are currently registered with the camp, with an additional 15 children on the waiting list, according to Coop Camp director and Mamaroneck Avenue School teacher Iris Hernandez.

The Coop Camp mission is to provide academic and social support in a traditional setting for kids from low-income families who cannot afford a sleep-away camp, Sacks said. Sacks’ involvement with the camp began when his daughter needed to advance her language skills. He said the camp helped her perform at grade level by the end of the following school year.

Approximately 80 percent of Coop Camp attendees qualify for free or reduced tuition, which costs $160 total for the five-week, 30-day program. The camp serves low-income students, students in special education who have summer school stipulations and students who need help with school subjects. The 2016 session starts on July 1 and ends on Aug. 11.

Each grade level in the camp has a themed curriculum that Hernandez developed. The curriculum integrates writing, reading, math and social issues, according to Mamaroneck Avenue School Principal Carrie Amon, who has served as camp administrator for the past 17 years. Amon is retiring at the end of the school year and will turn her camp duties over to Mark Barnett, the assistant principal of Hommocks School.

Sacks said that fundraising efforts for the 2017 camp session is already in the planning stages. It is possible that the next camp will operate under a private and public partnership in which the Mamaroneck school district would provide the camp’s facilities and academic curriculum, and a third party would provide the programmed activities.