City Implementing 'Rigorous' Standards After 7-Year-Old Summer Program Participant Drowns

BOSTON, MA — In the wake of a seven-year-old summer drop-in program participant's drowning, the city moved quickly to assess and improve its programs' safety practices, announcing changes late in the day Friday.

The news comes less than an hour after a police briefing in which Boston Police Commissioner William Evans told reporters Kyzr Willis' death on Tuesday was a drowning. When and how the boy left his fellow campers and reentered the water on Carson Beach remains a mystery, Evans said.

In a press release Friday, Mayor Marty Walsh and the Boston Centers for Youth & Families, which runs the city's drop-in and other summer children's programming, announced immediate changes meant to prevent the tragedy from repeating.

It also provides insight into how a little boy, reportedly so beloved by staffers, slipped through the program's safety net.

The following immediate changes will be made at the Curley Community Center, where Willis and his brother both attended the summer drop-in program, according to the press release:

• Headcount Procedure: Staff will conduct headcounts on 60-minute intervals, as well as headcounts of all children before and after moving through the entrances and exits of the Curley Community Center. A time sheet and clipboard will be distributed to each staff member to confirm they have conducted a headcount at the appropriate times and provided to the program director at the end of each day.
• Front Desk Staffing: While a Curley Community Center employee currently oversees the front desk, a Summer Youth Activities Program staff member will be designated as responsible for managing children in the drop-in program at arrival and dismissal, as well as ensuring that no child leaves the building unless accompanied by an adult.
• Child Staff Ratio: The SYAP will operate under a minimum ratio of 10:2 for children ages 6 and under and 20:2 for children ages 7 and older. This means that for every group of children there will be at least two counselors to assure a check on each counselor, and to be prepared in the case of an emergency. Additional staff members will be assigned to groups of children under the age of 10 to provide increased support and supervision.
• Book End Supervision Procedure: The SYAP will organize children into lines before moving between activity locations, with a designated staff member at the front and back of the line, as well as a staff member to walk alongside the children.
• Ocean Safety Procedures: All children who enter the ocean will be required to wear a life preserver at all times. A maximum of 10 children and 2 staff members will be allowed in the water at any one time and assigned staff must remain in the water with the children at all times.
• Security Cameras: Out of an abundance of caution, 34 security cameras will be brought online to increase security across the Curley Community Center by Tuesday, August 2nd. An effort was already under way by the City to upgrade the surveillance systems at BCYF facilities and the work was expedited this past week at the Curley Community Center.

There were no video cameras surveying the area near Carson Beach where Willis disappeared, police said at the time.

The headcount procedures, child-to-staff ratio and book end supervision procedures will be enforced broadly across all BCYF drop-in programs, the press release said. Additionally, all BCYF drop-in programs will also move toward uniform emergency actions procedures as well as site-specific emergency action plans for fire and evacuation, lost child or swimmer and injury scenarios.

BCYF's existing ban on employees using personal electronic devices during shifts will continue to be strictly enforced, the release added.

The city called these changes "rigorous new standards." Walsh on Wednesday returned early from the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to meet with Willis' family and inform the press a review of the BCYF programs' procedures was underway, and would be complete by Friday.

• Read More: City-Run Summer Programs Under Review, Facility Director on Leave
• 7-Year-Old's Death 'Accidental Drowning,' No Foul Play Suspected: Police
• Kyzr Willis Memorial Fund Raising $50K for Family
  

BCYF oversees 21 fully licensed summer camps, seven fun stops and five drop-in programs. Drop-in programs are located at the BCYF Curley Community Center, the BCYF Mattahunt Community Center, the BCYF Gallivan Community Center, the BCYF Charlestown Community Center, and the BCYF Paris Street Girls program.

The Curley Center reopens Tuesday, and staff will have spent a full day training on the new procedures prior to that opening, the press release said. Families can continue to bring their children to the Condon Community Center, or the Curley Community Center where the city will provide transportation, the mayor's office said.

"The city experienced a terrible tragedy with the loss of Kyzr Willis and we immediately launched a review of all our protocols at our BCYF centers," Walsh said in the release. "Thousands of families entrust their children to our summer camps and we take that trust extremely seriously. It is our priority to act quickly on any potential improvements to our programs, and I will continue to work closely with BCYF leadership to ensure we have proper oversight and safety procedures at all of our programs."

>> Photo courtesy WHDH 7News from Wednesday morning's city, police press conference