BRUNSWICK COUNTY — The Brunswick County Board of Education has chosen to end its partnership with the YMCA of Southeastern North Carolina, but representatives of both are mum on the specific circumstances that led to the decision. Some parents have shared experiences highlighting potential management problems with the YMCA’s programs.
On Aug. 19, Brunswick County Schools posted a statement on social media announcing its decision not to renew its agreement with the YMCA, which allowed the nonprofit to use school facilities for afterschool activities. As part of its contract renewal last year, the YMCA also held summer camps at Belville Elementary, Town Creek Middle and Jessie Mae Monroe Elementary this summer.
A district spokesperson told Port City Daily the contract with the YMCA was not due for renewal until winter. However, the district said YMCA will no longer be able to operate in school facilities immediately, following the district’s review of “multiple concerns related to student supervision and safety during programming.”
The school district is not able to share individual names and details due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
Port City Daily asked for a summary of concerns without names and the amount of complaints received. A district spokesperson refrained from answering specifics and instead said “questions or concerns can arise over time” as with any ongoing partnership.
However, two Brunswick County parents who previously enrolled their children in the YMCA’s day camp shared their experiences with Port City Daily.
Taron Scherer said he put his 6-year-old in the YMCA’s summer camp program at Towne Creek Elementary earlier this summer, after the Southport Parks and Recreation Department’s programs were suspended due to missing town funds revealed in March.
Scherer decided to remove his son from the program after a few days due to security concerns. The parent said he went to pick up his son the first time and no one asked for his ID, which he had ready to show the attendant.
“The lady had never seen me before; my wife’s the one that dropped my son off that morning,” he said, noting he observed other parents arriving for pick-up without being identified either.
After a few days of the same pattern, Scherer and his wife decided to contact the director of the program with their concern and the director assured them the matter would be addressed. However, when Scherer returned the next day for pick-up, he again didn’t see anyone checking IDs.
“Obviously, the people didn’t care enough to do it,” Scherer said. “I just told my wife that we just wouldn’t mess with that stuff again.”
Ashleigh Hall enrolled her son with special needs, now 7-years old, in the YMCA’s 2025 summer camp program at Ocean View Baptist Church. She was drawn to the program because it advertised offsite field trips each week and activities centered around varied interests, including space, sports and nature.
Hall was further assured by the program’s leadership that a staff member would be monitoring her son at all times, a requirement because he will run away, sometimes into streets. However, her son only attended one day of the camp.
The mother told Port City Daily she arrived for pickup to the sound of her son screaming. When she reached him inside the building, she saw his shirt had been stretched and his back had red welts across it.
A staff member explained they had stepped out to take a phone call from a parent. Before doing so, the person instructed a group of 11- and 12-year-old boys to try to coax Hall’s son out from under a table, where he went after learning his age group would not be allowed outside for a model rocket simulation.
The boys then reportedly began to drag Hall’s son from under the table along the floor.
Hall said she was devastated by the incident because she feels like she lost her son’s trust.
“The very first day I spent an hour-and-a-half trying to convince him [to go] and so now my word means nothing,” Hall said.
Hall said she took her son home and called the police, who informed her she could file charges against the boys but would run into trouble seeking legal action against YMCA staff because of the liability waivers Hall signed. She decided against filing any criminal or civil complaints.
“I’m a single mom,” Hall said. “I can’t miss the time from work. I don’t have the money for an attorney. I just bought this house three months before this had happened, so all my funds were completely depleted.”
Hall said she did inform her son’s principal of the incident and was told the report was shared with the district. After that, she didn’t hear anything else, Hall said.
“I honestly had to kind of put it behind me to get past it,” Hall said.
Port City Daily reached out to the YMCA for an interview about the end of its partnership with Brunswick County Schools. A representative sent a statement instead:
“The YMCA of Southeastern North Carolina takes the concerns raised by Brunswick County Schools seriously. The safety and well-being of every child entrusted to our care is one of our highest priorities, and we recognize the responsibility that comes with the trust families place in us. We are reviewing the concerns raised and reinforcing our established safety and supervision procedures to ensure they are consistently understood and followed.
We greatly value our relationship with Brunswick County Schools and the opportunity we have had to serve children and families throughout the county. We are committed to listening to the district’s concerns, strengthening our practices where needed, and continuing conversations with school system leadership with the hope of identifying opportunities to partner again in the future. Our immediate focus remains on supporting the families affected by this transition and continuing to provide safe, high-quality programs for the children and families we serve.”
Hall said she trusted the YMCA’s program because of its affiliation with the school district, as many of the other childcare options are off the table for her son. Hall hopes sharing her story will motivate the district to support summer camp options that take better care of students with special needs.
Each of the three summer camps held at its schools accommodated between 25 and 50 children. The district didn’t provide enrollment numbers for its afterschool program partnership.
In its social media message, the district said it is pursuing alternative options for afterschool care while evaluating the “program structure and safeguards necessary to best serve students and families moving forward.” The message noted parents were emailed information regarding afterschool options.
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