Export looks to re-evaluate annual summer playground program

Export officials are looking to re-evaluate and possibly revamp their annual summer playground program after participation declined the past few years.

“Last year we had only about three kids for three volunteers by the end of the year,” Councilwoman Melanie Litz said. “Participation has been waning the past two or three years.”

The annual summer playground program has offered parents a partial day of child care for only $1 per day. It’s been available for children from kindergarten through sixth grade at the borough’s playground three days per week from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Councilman John Nagoda said the borough should use the next couple months to try to publicize the program, which charges $5 for registration and has open registration throughout the summer.

“Don’t forget: last year was covid, too,” Nagoda said.

Litz said she is working with the entrepreneurship class at Franklin Regional Senior High School to develop a community survey to help gauge interest in the program. The class has helped the Export Historical Society previously with some of its projects.

Litz said she hopes the program can continue.

“I hate to say it, but it’s a lot of work not just for me, but also for the girls who help run it,” she said. “We’ll see what the survey results say. It’s kind of a work in progress.”