ACA camp accreditation

[sdcc57]

There's a subject which I've found can produce some strong opinions,particularly among SE's and council camping professionals:participation in the camp acceditation program of the American Camp Association.

I was very surprised to learn that of the hundreds of BSA camps in the country only about a dozen have ACA accreditation,which includes the three national high adventure bases.

If there are people with an interest I'd enjoy beginning a discussion.

[Buffalo Skipper]

OK, I am game to listen, but what is ACA, and what types of camps do they "certify"? What is their background and credentials? Obviously, if this stirs up SEs, then there is some reason for contention here.

 

I am neither a camp inspector nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night; however three of my closest friends are inspectors, so I hear quite a bit about camp inspections and the process from their perspective.

[belayer_StLouis]

ACA is the American Camping Association. They accredit all kinds of camps, private and otherwise. They are a "trade type" peer group that sets standards so that parents and folks know that someone outside of that camp is looking at health and safety issues. I am a BSA inspector, on the council camping comm., used to be a DE and a camp director. I know that our camps in the Greater St. Louis Area Council have been certified by the ACA. I don't ever remember hearing any buzz about them and if we are currently certified, we really only pay real attention to the BSA Visitation process. I haven't visited the ACA website in a long time but it might be worth the effort.

[John-in-KC]

Belayer has it right. ACA takes care of programs which have 1 or 2 sites. BSA literally has hundreds of sites and programs around the country. If you've not seen the National Camp Standards book, it's thick, and it's comprehensive. People, training, facilities, foodservice management...

 

I don't know about your Council, but the Rangers of my Reservations are deadly serious about best practices for physical plant operations.

[GKlose]

I worked in a summer camp kitchen back in the late 70s...I'm not sure who accredited our camp (WilVick might remember) but the kitchen and dining hall got great scrutiny. The county health department also visited before the summer opened, and that was even more stringent. Our practices were safe, so there were no issues and the camp indeed got its preferred rating.

 

But all this came home to me one night when a Scoutmaster approached me to tell me that one of his scouts had diarrhea. I really wasn't sure what to say. Could we have messed up? It's possible, but there wasn't anyone else in camp that was sick, and there were no other complaints. Looking back I realize how serious of an issue that was. We now have 30+ more years of food safety awareness, and we know that not cooking something properly, or improper handling and storage of food can lead to serious sickness and even death.

 

There was one problem that wasn't really our fault: we got milk deliveries from a local dairy. One day one of their refrigerators went out, and a whole batch of milk spoiled. That didn't prevent them from recooling it and delivering it anyway. I kept getting reports of individual half-pints that were sour, while others were just fine. I eventually figured out to check date codes and figured out that each and every milk crate in our walk-in had some spoiled cartons mixed in with good cartons. After some irate phones calls, complete with yelling back and forth, they "graciously" (sarcasm intended) replaced the spoiled milk that they were billing us for. Luckily nobody got sick.

[sdcc57]

The American Camp Association(formerly American Camping Association),as was mentioned earlier,is a trade association of camping professionals and those with a personal or business interest in camping.

They have an accreditation program similar to the program operated by the BSA for its camps.

My first exposure was in the 70's as a summer staff member responsible to prepare documents for both the BSA and ACA camp "inspections".Both groups now use the term "visitations" for the visits by outside personnel to verify compliance with standards.

I've been involved in BSA visitations since the 70's,and in ACA visitations since the 90's.I've learned that while they are similar,they aren't identical.

The primary advantage most councils mention in deciding to comply with ACA standards is to qualify for funding from local campership organizations.I'd guess the camps that are ACA certified are operated by councils with such organizations.