Ephrata to open BOLD day programs early

EPHRATA — With the closure of schools for the rest of the school year, the Ephrata Parks and Recreation Department is going to open the city’s summer children’s program in May instead of June.

Traci Bennett, director of community services, spoke about the BOLD program during a conference call meeting of the Ephrata City Council on Wednesday. The city will open the summer program for children from kindergarten through sixth grade six weeks early, on May 1, to help parents who might be “struggling with day care and who still have to work.”

The city runs the BOLD program — which stands for “Building Opportunities for Leadership Development” — as a full-time program in the summer and an after-school program in the fall, winter and spring. However, Bennett said the city was forced to close the after-school program, which is based in Columbia Ridge Elementary, when Gov. Jay Inslee ordered the closure of schools in mid-March.

Bennett said BOLD will offer full-day, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and half-day, morning or afternoon, options that will provide children “academic, physical and life skills” at the city’s Recreation Center. She said the normal summer program, which includes field trips and excursions to Splash Zone, will be pared down and there will be a “bigger emphasis” on homework and studies.

“A lot of this will be structured time to do homework,” she said.

The city will also take precautions and increase the spacing between kids, Bennett said.

For more information and an application, call 509-754-4426 or visit the website ephrata.org/bold_315.html.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected].