Maplewood Country Day Camp Discriminated Against My Son

My child, S, started at Maplewood Country Day Camp when he was 3.5 years old. He went two days a week then for 8 weeks but the next year he went three days a week for 8 weeks and when he was 5 he was going 5 days a week for 8 weeks. He loved it! He made so many friends and so did I because of his connections. Getting a “Plugger” award was a big deal. I went to work late on the days that I went to camp to watch his performances. When he got his 5 year mug at 8 years old, you would have thought he died and went to heaven. He still wears the fleece he got as his 10 years at camp prize. At 10, he started at overnight camp for half the summer but spent the rest of it at Maplewood. He did this routine for 5 years so that he could be a CIT for two summers because his goal was to be a senior CIT and be considered a staff person and work with the little kids he loves so much.

Unfortunately, in the meantime, he was diagnosed with a connective tissue disorder called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome that makes all his joints hurt all the time. Every day he perseveres to walk around school, climb stairs and fight the physical and emotional pain that EDS causes him.

Ehlers Danlos Syndrome did not stop S from being a CIT the last two summers. He even skipped going to overnight camp for the entire season just so he go back to Maplewood to be eligible to be a Senior CIT for the summer of 2018.

The directors of Maplewood knew about his condition and he was able to hand pick the group he wanted to work with because of it. S was so excited to wear his staff shirts and be a bus counselor so he could earn extra money. Senior CITS make $200 for the summer as a stipend. They do not earn a salary.

However, every day, he came home exhausted and barely able to move. Walking all over camp every day and working with 5 year olds was too much on his body. We called the director and spoke to her about different options for him to continue to be at camp but in a different capacity that would be easier on his body. Every suggestion was met with a negative because of “staffing issues”. Arts & Crafts (where he could sit a lot) didn’t need extra staff. Working 2 or 3 days a week instead of 5 so his body could rest would not be possible because there were not enough floater counselors to fill in for him. Finally, we agreed on him being able to go to the nurses office to rest for 10 minutes a few times a day.

This agreement lasted for less than a week. On the Wednesday of the fourth week of camp, S came home and told me that the director told him that his breaks were interfering with their staffing issues and he could not continue to take them. Her inflexibility to find something else for him to do for four weeks when she had a staff of 250 at her disposal is inexcusable. The director told S to come home and talk to me about what to do. Either he could stop taking breaks or he had to stop coming to camp.

What choice did we have? Maplewood hired him knowing about his condition but refused to accommodate him for it. They said he agreed to working from 9:00am-4:00pm without a break. When a friend spoke to the director of another local day camp, she said she gives her counselors a 30 minute break every day and that she doesn’t hire 15 year olds to be counselors because it is too tiring for them.

The Friday of the fourth week of camp was S’s last day. After 12 years at Maplewood, he will never go back there. After the tens of thousands of dollars I paid them for him to be a camper there, they couldn’t accommodate him for the rest of the summer, for the $100 he would have been paid. The campers loved him as did the bus driver who he worked closely with as the bus counselor.

Maplewood Country Day camp has a good reputation in town but when you go behind the scenes it is not a pretty picture. For a kid who loved this place, it is now tainted. For $100, Maplewood couldn’t find something else for him to do for 4 weeks.

Do you want to send your children to a camp that treats its employees like this? To a camp that doesn’t accommodate for a disability like S has? I know camp registration for next summer is already in full swing but I am asking you to think about what kind of camp you want to send your kids to before you send them your deposit.

Thank you.