As a summer camp professional in Maine who understands the importance of camps to Maine’s children, culture and economy, I urge readers to contact their state lawmakers and share their concerns about proposed changes to Department of Health and Human Services Rule 208 concerning youth camps. As written, they would hamstring camps of all types, making it challenging to operate and to continue providing enriching experiences for children. Unfortunately, DHHS and the Maine Center for Disease Control wrote the rules without any input from camp leaders, resulting in a proposal that threatens the camping industry. They must be withdrawn and camp professionals must be included. The Maine Youth Camping Association, the top advocate for campers and camps, also backs this push.

The rule’s intentions are to make campers safer, but the bureaucratic sledgehammer that they use to do this instead makes operating camps burdensome. For example, the rules would require fingerprinting every staff member, which is costly and not even considered the best technology for background checks. Another example, believe it or not, requires all living spaces to be free from insects. At camp? A mosquito or spider would invite a punishable violation.

It’s not that camp leaders don’t want sound regulations that protect kids. On the contrary. It’s that we want to be involved in the process. For that to happen, the Rule 208 proposal must be withdrawn and camp professionals must be consulted. Trust us; we’ve been providing kids with life-changing opportunities for more than a century.

Alex Toole
Portland

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