I can't find the article at the Cap Times anymore, but this being the internet and all, it's still findable in Google's cache, so I thought I'd reproduce the text here. This was written by Steve Elbow, and I'm not sure why it's gone. It's an interesting piece on an organization in full damage-control mode. I'm still waiting to see all the working families who have been clamoring for pool time, as Wall claims in the article.
In an ironic set of unintended consequences, the exodus of 120 kids from the West YMCA swim team has allowed the organization to go back to its original practice schedule.
"Because it’s a reduced program now, there’s more availability in the pool to accommodate everyone," said YMCA of Dane County board chair Betsy Huebel.
Last month YMCA officials set off a firestorm of complaints from parents of kids in the 300-member swim team program by switching practice times for some kids from evenings to early mornings, which parents say made it difficult for kids to get to school on time. Other parents were faced with practices being moved from the west side facility to the east side one, which would have required a 20-minute after-school dash across town.
Animosity was magnified by the fact that the changes were to take place in early January — right in the middle of the swim season.
YMCA officials say the changes were necessary because members were not able to swim laps and kids were not able to take swimming lessons during the 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. "prime time" hours.
"All the lanes were being taken up by the swim team," Huebel said.
But because nearly half the swimmers left the team, the YMCA can keep lanes open for lap swimmers and for swimming lessons.
The YMCA has been caught in a fusillade of criticism from both swim team parents and members who say the swim team dominates the pool. When the Y changed practice schedules, angry swim team parents retaliated by pointing to problems with the YMCA's childcare programs, some of which have racked up a large number of violations in recent years.
YMCA officials and city regulators say the childcare problems have been addressed. But lingering resentment at the swim team changes — as well as the firing of 13 management staffers — still festers. A series of stories on the Cap Times website over the past couple of weeks continues to draw phone calls and emails from angry parents and former and current staffers.
"Her incompetence and God-like attitude is shocking," writes one swim-team parent, referring to YMCA president and CEO Carrie Wall in an email to the Cap Times on Friday. "She seems to answer to no one."
In an interview on Friday, Wall said the organization does all it can to support competitive sports programs. But she said the Y's core values of healthy living, youth development and social responsibliity come first. That means its sports programs need more of an emphasis on basic skills, like swimming lessons, instead of competition.
"We do it by teaching kids basic level sports so they can play the rest of their lives and be active," she said. "That’s really our goal. What they do beyond that, we’ll support it as much as we can."
Wall said the organization has geared itself toward tackling current issues, like youth obesity, academic readiness and promoting family health.
The swim team, she said, "is not our number one goal and mission."
"We did it, and we became this big entity because we have pools and we had the room to do it," Wall said. "But it grew to a point where having all those prime-time hours, we couldn’t just have the swim team have it."
The program changes come while the YMCA is reeling from a $500,000 deficit, which Wall said is attributable in part to members who have quit, or prospective members who won't join, because gym and pool space is limited.
"Why we did it is because we needed to do it," she said.
Wall said some of the deficit is due to a slow economy, which led to disappointing camp enrollments last summer as budget conscious parents, some out of work, kept kids at home. The Y also saw an increase in requests for scholarships, awarded to needy families, which amounted to $900,000 this year, up from $400,000 three years ago.
In addition, debt on the northeast YMCA of Dane County facility in Sun Prairie, which opened in 2007, continues to be a burden. The YMCA, which has an annual budget of about $13 million, still owes $6 million on the building, said Wall.
To balance the books, the YMCA cut 13 positions in November, including its vice president of business services, who earned nearly $140,000 last year, according to federal tax records. Wall said the staff cuts amounted to a total of $600,000 in savings.
She said changes were made to several programs, not just the swim team. And she said that they had to be made immediately so the organization could entice new members in its start-of-the-year membership drive.
"We’re always in the middle of somebody’s season, whether it’s basketball, whether it’s camp, whatever," Wall said. "We had to make the decision based on our budget year. And our budget year and our busiest time of the year starts in January."
She said the impact of members not having access to facilities last year was "devastating," and if left to continue could hamper efforts by the Y to right its financial ship.
"We had our members just clamoring, 'We don’t have lap swim time, we don’t have open swim time. That's why we joined the YMCA,'" she said. "And when it comes to working families, prime time is prime time."
"Because it’s a reduced program now, there’s more availability in the pool to accommodate everyone," said YMCA of Dane County board chair Betsy Huebel.
Last month YMCA officials set off a firestorm of complaints from parents of kids in the 300-member swim team program by switching practice times for some kids from evenings to early mornings, which parents say made it difficult for kids to get to school on time. Other parents were faced with practices being moved from the west side facility to the east side one, which would have required a 20-minute after-school dash across town.
Animosity was magnified by the fact that the changes were to take place in early January — right in the middle of the swim season.
YMCA officials say the changes were necessary because members were not able to swim laps and kids were not able to take swimming lessons during the 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. "prime time" hours.
"All the lanes were being taken up by the swim team," Huebel said.
But because nearly half the swimmers left the team, the YMCA can keep lanes open for lap swimmers and for swimming lessons.
The YMCA has been caught in a fusillade of criticism from both swim team parents and members who say the swim team dominates the pool. When the Y changed practice schedules, angry swim team parents retaliated by pointing to problems with the YMCA's childcare programs, some of which have racked up a large number of violations in recent years.
YMCA officials and city regulators say the childcare problems have been addressed. But lingering resentment at the swim team changes — as well as the firing of 13 management staffers — still festers. A series of stories on the Cap Times website over the past couple of weeks continues to draw phone calls and emails from angry parents and former and current staffers.
"Her incompetence and God-like attitude is shocking," writes one swim-team parent, referring to YMCA president and CEO Carrie Wall in an email to the Cap Times on Friday. "She seems to answer to no one."
In an interview on Friday, Wall said the organization does all it can to support competitive sports programs. But she said the Y's core values of healthy living, youth development and social responsibliity come first. That means its sports programs need more of an emphasis on basic skills, like swimming lessons, instead of competition.
"We do it by teaching kids basic level sports so they can play the rest of their lives and be active," she said. "That’s really our goal. What they do beyond that, we’ll support it as much as we can."
Wall said the organization has geared itself toward tackling current issues, like youth obesity, academic readiness and promoting family health.
The swim team, she said, "is not our number one goal and mission."
"We did it, and we became this big entity because we have pools and we had the room to do it," Wall said. "But it grew to a point where having all those prime-time hours, we couldn’t just have the swim team have it."
The program changes come while the YMCA is reeling from a $500,000 deficit, which Wall said is attributable in part to members who have quit, or prospective members who won't join, because gym and pool space is limited.
"Why we did it is because we needed to do it," she said.
Wall said some of the deficit is due to a slow economy, which led to disappointing camp enrollments last summer as budget conscious parents, some out of work, kept kids at home. The Y also saw an increase in requests for scholarships, awarded to needy families, which amounted to $900,000 this year, up from $400,000 three years ago.
In addition, debt on the northeast YMCA of Dane County facility in Sun Prairie, which opened in 2007, continues to be a burden. The YMCA, which has an annual budget of about $13 million, still owes $6 million on the building, said Wall.
To balance the books, the YMCA cut 13 positions in November, including its vice president of business services, who earned nearly $140,000 last year, according to federal tax records. Wall said the staff cuts amounted to a total of $600,000 in savings.
She said changes were made to several programs, not just the swim team. And she said that they had to be made immediately so the organization could entice new members in its start-of-the-year membership drive.
"We’re always in the middle of somebody’s season, whether it’s basketball, whether it’s camp, whatever," Wall said. "We had to make the decision based on our budget year. And our budget year and our busiest time of the year starts in January."
She said the impact of members not having access to facilities last year was "devastating," and if left to continue could hamper efforts by the Y to right its financial ship.
"We had our members just clamoring, 'We don’t have lap swim time, we don’t have open swim time. That's why we joined the YMCA,'" she said. "And when it comes to working families, prime time is prime time."
And the article is back now, completely as it was before as far as I can tell.
ReplyDeleteStatistic I would like to see: Number of former members who left the YMCA due to lack of lap swim/ open swim. Number of non-members who never joined because swim team enrollment was capped.