Cool fun in the summertime
Published on July 2nd, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - The Stoneham tradition of packing parks with children and equipment began again on Monday with the first day of the Open Park Program. For more than 20 years, the town budget has funded the program that hires college-aged park instructors to make parks more fun by leading activities and distributing sports equipment to children during summer break.
This year, the recreation department was able to hire 11 park instructors, enough to keep the four playgrounds at AP Rounds, East School, the old Central School and South School staffed until August 15. The instructors arrive at 9:00 a.m. in the morning with sports balls, Wiffle bats, tennis rackets and board games. The equipment is available to children in the park until the instructors leave at 4:00 p.m.
The instructors are all college students who range in age from 17 to 22.
"Usually we try to hire them as they graduate High School," explained Megan McDonough, who has been an instructor for the last five years and is now the Assistant Director of the program.
Most of this year's instructors have worked for the program before. James Previte, has also been with the program five years. Previte will staff AP Rounds, along with veteran instructors Ray Powers and Alyson Addonizio.
"It keeps you outside and active," said Park Instructor Mike Forman, adding that sports are not the only activities available, "If it's too hot we sit at picnic tables and play board games." Forman and Meghan Coughlin, will staff East School Park.
Mike Dilisio and Lori Huff will staff South School Park while Jennye Nolan and Dave Harrington will staff the old Central School Park. Recent Stoneham High School graduate Jesse Malzone, will travel from park to park to lead arts and crafts activities such as tie-dying and making model gliders.
In addition, a series of field trips have been planned to destinations around New England, such as Canobie Lake Park, Drumlin Farms, and Hampton Beach. Children enrolled in the program can join the trips for a fee with parent permission. The staff is also planning an all day summer party at the Boys and Girls Club and an outdoor Carnival to close out the season.
The idea behind the Open Park Program is to give kids a fun place to play near their homes.
"It's more of a neighborhood program than anything else; that's an unfortunate part of it because we can't staff every neighborhood park," said Recreation Coordinator Christine DelRossi, who wants to expand the program to Robin Hood Park and Colonial Park next year, but fears further funding shortages.
Funding for the Recreation Department fell by nearly $14,000 this year, forcing DelRossi to cut the personnel budget. As a result, this year's Open Parks staff is only large enough to cover four of the five parks it covered last year. The high school was cut from the program because it lacked shade, and had no playground equipment.
Although she was able to maneuver the Recreation Department budget this year to keep four parks staffed, DelRossi commented that more budget cuts, "could eliminate next year's program."
Since the Open Parks and Open Gym programs are the only staffed activities budgeted by the town, if the Recreation department has to cut personnel funding, they will be the first to go. In order to build a case for the program, McDonough stressed to the instructors the need to keep an accurate count of how many children participate in their activities.
"There's a possibility they might not have the parks next year," said McDonough, "it's important that we have numbers down, it will help us get more money."
Each year an average of 400 area youths formally enroll in the program, but there are no solid numbers yet as to how many children participate without filling out an enrollment form.
Participants are not required to sign in or out of activities, because the program is structured to allow children to come and go as they please, but it gives them something to do if they stay at the park.
Now head of the Recreation Department, DelRossi began her career with the Open Park Program 20 years ago.
"I started as a youth worker in 1984," she said, and before that she attended the program as a child.
"Kids will say 'I want to be a parks instructor when I grow up'," commented Powers during the instructors meeting, "it's a cool job."
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