Rec Center may charge poor kids
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Free activities might soon be a thing of the past for low-income children at the Lee Beran Recreation Center.
On Monday, the Emporia Recreation Commission discussed charging a minimum $5 enrollment fee to children who qualified for free school lunches. Such children have been allowed to enroll for free in the past, while children who got reduced-price school lunches were charged half-price.
In some activities, this can get expensive for the recreation center. For example, in tennis or golf, the center pays an outside instructor but about 30 percent of the students qualify for waivers.
“Some families sign their kids up for $600 worth of activities,” McEvoy said in December.
At Monday’s meeting, McEvoy said he and his staff could see three solutions: either verify each student’s economic status by checking W-2 forms, which could grow cumbersome; or limit the number of activities that would qualify for a waiver; or else charge a minimum fee.
“Why not combine number two and number three?” Recreation Commissioner Kevin Nelson asked.
Commissioner Jennifer Bennett agreed, saying that a minimum fee could also reduce absenteeism.
“It’s a fact that if you have a financial stake in something, you’re more likely to show up for class,” she said.
One option McEvoy presented would limit the number of activities that could be waived to two per session, with a session consisting of either spring, summer, or fall activities. Another option would limit the number of waived activities to six a year, allowing families to enroll more heavily in the busy summer session.
The commissioners asked McEvoy to prepare a proposal that had both an activities limit and a minimum fee, to be voted on at the Feb. 19 meeting.
Not so hot
The swimming pool at the recreation center still needs a new air-handling unit — and may have to wait still longer to get it.
The city and recreation commissions had agreed to replace the unit last March, which would allow the pool to be heated at therapy-pool temperatures without damaging the equipment. But delays followed on the city side. Now, McEvoy said, the engineer who was working on the project has left Lattimer Sommers and Associates in Topeka to teach at Kansas State University.
McEvoy said the firm would put another engineer on the project or else subcontract locally. Either, he said, would probably be faster than hiring another firm and having them start from scratch.
“Aren’t costs increasing every day?” Bennett asked.
“Yes,” McEvoy said. “I’ve been pointing that out.”
According to an agreement approved by the recreation commission in May, the recreation commission would pay $279,000 for the system through bonds while the city would pay $62,550. Acting City Manager Mark McAnarney apologized for the delay last October.