For any parent, summer camp can feel like a life-saver when it comes to helping the kids stay occupied while on break from school. However, no one wants to send their children away to potentially put those same lives at risk due to violence.
Unfortunately, that became the case at Rucker Athletics Fitness and Training Center in Dolton, Illinois after it was recently discovered the children in their care were reportedly conducting their own “fight club.”
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According to FOX 32 Chicago, Rucker Athletics has closed the program but strongly asserts that we’re only seeing half the story. Lori Dill, the organization’s executive director of operations, spoke for her team by telling FOX 32, “I don’t want the communities to think we are sitting here with our legs crossed letting these kids fight and act like this.” She went on to add, “In every video you have, every kid is from the same family, but they are fighting different girls,” indicating that it’s an isolated situation amongst relatives that originally was met with intervention and mentorship starting from week 1. Also, the videos are said to be from an earlier situation that occurred during week 2, and don’t reflect how things ended during week 7.
Take a look below to see what some parents have to say to that explanation, via FOX 32 Chicago:
“Parent Angelette Taylor disputes that explanation.
Taylor says she had no idea the videos existed until her 7-year-old daughter was sent home for fighting. She says that is when her daughter told her she had not started the fights but had been forced into them.
‘Someone told me to fight her and I didn’t want to fight her,’ 7-year-old Vontellia Taylor told FOX Chicago.
Taylor says her daughter later told her that teen campers serving as camp leaders were directing younger children.
‘When we get in the car, she said, ‘You don’t understand. They got me fighting. They make me fight,” Taylor said.
Taylor says she only shared videos involving her own children before posting them to social media. After the videos went viral, the Village of Dolton ordered the camp closed pending an investigation.”
Conflicting reports on whether teen camp leaders were spearheading the horrendous acts are also in question, in addition to the questionable staff support in managing the large group of children. Statistics showed an average of 55 children per day compared to 10 adult staff members and eight youth camp leaders, which actually exceeds the minimum staff-to-child ratio for school-age programs in Illinois which requires 1 adult staff member for every 20 kids.
As the Dolton Police Department continues their investigation into the incidents, we can only hope this marks an end to the melee.
