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Summit Lake

Summit Lake Environmental
Education Center Procedures

The following information supplements or emphasizes procedures in the Outdoor Education Program Handbook and pertains specifically to Summit Lake Outdoor Education Center.

1. The state law banning the sale or use of tobacco at all school system activities is in effect at outdoor education. Alcoholic beverages are NOT allowed on the premises.
2. A confidence course, patterned after the one at the Smith Center, is available. Should a school elect to use this course, it is essential that teachers involved be properly trained. They must have participated in the Confidence Course Instructor’s Workshop within the past three years or have taken a retraining course, to use the course in a safe and proper manner.
3. There are eight buildings, two rooms per building, 16 bunks per cabin. Rooms ARE NOT connecting; they are numbered 1 through 15. The fewest number of cabins (with at least 12 students per cabin) should be used. Male students because of the bathroom facilities there use cabins one through six.
4. Loud, amplified music is not allowed. If amplified music is used, the volume should be kept at a reasonable level and windows and doors kept closed to minimize the effect on wildlife and residents in the area. There is a P.A. system in the chapel. Use must be arranged before noon each day.
5. Students are requested NOT to pick flowers nor to climb or hang on the limbs of trees near the buildings.
6. The gym, above the dining hall, has mercury vapor lights. The lights are timer-controlled and are on from 7-12 p.m. When using the gym, students and staff must wear tennis shoes.
7. Schools will be held responsible for any damage/vandalism and will be billed separately for such. Any damage or needed repairs should be reported promptly to the on-site coordinator camp staff, or nurse.
8. During the cold weather months, cabin and chapel heat will be adjusted at noon. Please advise the on-site coordinator or nurse which cabins and which buildings for evening activities will be used.
9. A pay phone is located in the room next to the dining hall. The number is (301) 271-9880. Out-going calls should be made from the phone near the fireplace.
10. 10. Visitors will be charged per meal. Staff, in excess of the one to six ratio, will be charged to the school on the Attendance & Charges Voucher (MCPS 345-6).
11. A refrigerator, located in the Bear Room, is available for staff use.
12. Breakfast is at 8:00 a.m., Lunch is at 12:00 noon, and Dinner is at 5:00 p.m.
13. Students can be considered for financial assistance if the parent(s) are not able to pay the full cost of the program (this includes all students, not just free and reduced lunch students). No later than the date of the trip, a list of students for whom you are requesting financial support should be sent to the Office of School Performance and Accountability with a copy to David Honchalk, Supervisor of Outdoor Education, indicating, by individual, the amount of money paid by the student if any. For accounting purposes, a form is attached.
14. Please do not take FOOD or LIQUIDS into any carpeted areas, nor into any cabins.
15. It is the responsibility of the school to keep the rest rooms in the chapel clean.
16. Outdoor fires must be confined to designated fire rings. Any temporary shelters must be dismantled before leaving.
17. Before using the fireplace, make sure the damper is open. Wood should be gathered by students/staff. Please take only down and dead firewood.
18. Children may be on the dock or the lake only under the direct supervision of a teacher.
19. The on-site coordinator will be available to spend the first night of each program.
20. On days the on-site coordinators does not spend the night, his/her availability will end at 4:00 p.m. On course instruction nights, the coordinator will leave Summit Lake at 3:00 p.m.
21. On day of departure, the school is to clean the boathouse, the chapel, the Bear Room, and any other areas used.

last updated 8/2002