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Prepare Now for Summer Camp Registration
Dear Schoolhouse families,
Tomorrow morning we take the next step toward opening camps again. One step closer to being together again — screen-free, outdoors, and having a blast with your kids.
Orange County camp parents please join us at 9 AM to check out the line up of 2021 Orange County summer camps and register for your favorites.
To help registration go as smoothly as possible, here are a few steps you can take in advance.
Durham and Wake camp parents — please also consider knocking these out so it’ll be smooth sailing when the time comes for registration at these locations.
1. To register for camp, you’ll need a Schoolhouse account. If you haven’t made one yet, you can do that now — here’s how! If you have an account already, please log in and make sure that all of your information is up-to-date. If you have difficulty accessing your account, we’re happy to help.
2. Please review our Program Policies (both general and COVID-related) here. Please be sure to review them carefully, as many have changed, including our cancelation and transfer policies. You can also review our broader response to COVID-19 here in Summer 2021 COVID Precautions.
3. If you have a credit from a previous registration, please keep an eye out for an email with your promo code and instructions for using it.
4. Here is some information on the most common registration questions and issues. Please note that camps will not appear on the website until tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 9 AM.
If you have additional questions, please call us at 919-477-2116 or email schoo
Orange County Camp Registration Opens on March 16
We’re so happy to share that registration for Schoolhouse 2021 summer camps at Brumley Forest Nature Preserve will open on March 16 at 9:00 AM. Because of COVID, the number of camp seats will be limited compared to years past. As always, we strongly encourage you to join the waitlist if a camp becomes full.
We wanted to let you know as soon as possible, but still have much work to do. For example, most of our website has not yet been updated (e.g. FAQs, COVID policies and procedures) but it will be prior to registration opening.
Durham and Wake camp parents — We’ll share updates as soon as we have them. We’re still working to open each site for registration as soon as we possibly can.
Summer Camp 2021
Dear Schoolhouse friends and families,
Though it’s not the full update we hoped to share by now, things are heading in a positive direction.
1. We’re thrilled to be back!
After a six-month furlough, most of our core team returned yesterday and are working hard to provide the high-quality programs you know, love, and expect.
2. We can’t wait to be outside with kids this summer!
Some camps will be familiar and some will be brand new. Our goal is to maintain the quality, integrity, and traditions of Schoolhouse while adapting to health and safety guidelines as they evolve.
We know that some of you are eager to know more, and so are we. Unfortunately we can’t yet know when we’ll have more to share. But we promise to keep working diligently, along with our partners, and will keep you up-to-date.
Thank you for your patience and support. Brighter days are ahead of us all.
Schoolhouse Camps 2020-2021
For as long as we could remember, there was a log pile just below the dam on the south side of the river at West Point on the Eno Park — home base of Schoolhouse of Wonder since 1989.
The pile grew a little or shrunk a little with each flood, but its existence was constant. So constant that it was actually written into our policies and procedures as the elevated vantage point for our River Pilot.
Imagine our surprise when that log pile vanished. The morning after the river retreated, a few of us stood on the familiar bank, coffee in hand, and quietly imagined the rain-swollen waters powerfully dislodging the twisted and tangled pile of logs that we had stood on hundreds of times to help ensure the safety of our campers and staff as they explored the Eno River. Of course it was possible that floodwaters could move that log pile, but it hadn’t occurred to us that it ever would.
Little did we know that stronger, deeper, and more disorienting floodwaters would come in the form of a global pandemic. And yet here we are.
Yearning to serve — to get back outside with your kids. For them, for you, and also for us.
But when we allowed ourselves to be quiet, to review the science, and the current circumstances in our Triangle communities, we knew that the next right thing for Schoolhouse is to stay still for a bit longer.
To that end, Schoolhouse will continue to hibernate through Spring 2021. We’re working now to pack up and move out of our office and then we’ll furlough our five remaining employees.
We’ll also post a brief FAQ that we hope will answer any lingering questions you may have about outstanding refunds, existing credits, and the like.
Please know, as we do, that this isn’t goodbye. Schoolhouse will be back. But there’s one thing we can’t do on our own and hope that you’ll be willing to help. We promise to hold on to a piece of the magic. Will you and your family do the same? Tell your favorite stories. Hike and play outside. Make up extraordinarily ridiculous would-you-rathers. Be as kind, curious, and confident as you can be. Make space for wonder.
Together we’ll take good care. And in the meantime, please stay safe and be well.
Gratitude and big love to each of you.
May 4 Update: Spring Camp Refunds
May 4, 2020
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We’re excited to share some good news!
Given what we now know (e.g. our summer camp season is also canceled), our board of directors has determined that a 75% refund can be made available to all registrations affected by the decision to cancel spring camps due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This decision represents a reconciliation of the policies established to protect and ensure our nonprofit’s ongoing existence and our deepfelt responsibility to our campers and their families. Please know that we continue to make the best decisions we can, using all of the information that we have available to us, at each step along the way. We thank you for your understanding.
Please fill out the emailed Google form and we will get your refund underway as soon as possible.
Processing refunds on this scale is something that we’ve never done before and is a massive, manual undertaking. Please be as patient as you can, given the enormous stress that we’re sure some of you may be experiencing.
Stay safe and be well. |
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Wendy Tonker, MPA
Executive Director
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May 1, 2020 Update Regarding Summer Camp Refunds
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May 1, 2020 5:00 PM
We can’t thank you enough for the patience, generosity of spirit, and benefit of the doubt shown to us by so many during these unusually difficult times.
As promised, following the announcement of our canceled summer season, we’ve worked closely with our board of directors to determine the best path forward given the circumstances. It’s been anything but straightforward. Earlier this week, I shared an update that referenced our cancellation policy’s “pandemic clause,” which states that no refunds will be given in circumstances such as these. I shared this information not to imply or foreshadow a result, rather to provide insight into where we started, and why it’s taken so long to untangle this complicated and stubborn knot.
Here’s the answer that everyone’s been waiting for — we can refund 75% of current, paid registrations for all Schoolhouse 2020 summer camps.
This decision represents a reconciliation of the policies established to protect and ensure our nonprofit’s ongoing existence and our deepfelt responsibility to our campers and their families. It also avoids immediate bankruptcy, and gives us at least a fighting chance for Schoolhouse to serve kids and families again at some time in the future.
There are only a few of us still employed here. And we’ll work as hard as we possibly can to process your refunds as quickly as we can while continuing to pilot Schoolhouse at Your House online camps for our spring camp families who chose to participate.
If you have the time and energy and are curious, I hope you’ll learn more about why and how we came to this decision by visiting our FAQ page. As usual, we’ve been extremely transparent about this process — wishes, warts, and all.
Processing refunds on this scale is something that we’ve never done before and is a massive, manual undertaking. Please be as patient as you can, given the enormous stress that we’re sure some of you may be experiencing.
Stay safe and be well. I wholeheartedly believe that we’re all doing the best we can and I thank each of you for that.
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Wendy Tonker, MPA
Executive Director
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May 1 Interim Update
May 1, 2020, 10:15 AM
As promised, we will reach out to registered summer camp families later today with next steps following the cancellation of our summer camps. We understand that this is an anxious time for so many of us, and appreciate your patience for a few more hours as we continue to work diligently.
4/28/2020 Update: Summer Camps Canceled
Dear Schoolhouse Summer Camp families,
Since last week when we announced our decision to cancel this summer camp season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of you have asked about refunds or credits.
At the time of registration, each person agrees to terms and conditions regarding cancellations and non-attendance that read, in part: “There will be no reduction or refund of fees for the discontinuation of a scheduled event or camp season due to illness, injury, acts of God, natural disasters, acts of war, terrorism, fire, pandemics or epidemics.”
Because we employ a professional year-round staff, our annual budget requires cash flow to be interdependent between camp seasons. Meaning, our revenue and expenses are not contained to one camp season or another, rather a mix of programming throughout the year.
We know that it’s a scary and stressful time for so many people and additional uncertainty isn’t what any of us want or need right now. Yet we’ve asked for your patience to allow our nonprofit Board of Directors to consider a range of possible next steps and make the best decision they can for everyone involved — our families, staff, partners, communities, and our nonprofit organization itself.
We’re so grateful for the faith and trust that you, and families before you for the past 30 years, have put in us to nurture and mentor your children and to keep them safe. Please know that same level of care, compassion, curiosity, and commitment are being poured into this complex series of decisions.
I’m sorry that so many of us are hurting and promise that we’ll be in touch as soon as we know more. We’ll definitely share an update by May 1.
Thank you so much for your patience and support.
Stay safe and well,
