Consequences for Code of Conduct Offenses

Illegal or Dangerous Activities

If a person is caught doing illegal activities or actions that pose immediate danger to other campers or themselves, the Three-Step Process for Consequences for Offenders of the Code of Conduct below does not apply. The offender will be asked to leave camp immediately without getting a refund. For a partial list of illegal activities, see PA State Park Regulations.

Incident Report

• We have an ongoing incident report shared document with the date, type of offense, and the names of people involved. This document is accessible to program directors and main staff. Each offense needs to be added to the incident report by the program director. The offenders and their parents should be informed at the time of the offense.
• If someone has a consequence in the incident report that occurred in a previous program, then a new offense will be counted as the second offense, even if it is the first offense in that particular program. Records stay in the report for two years.

Three-Step Process for Consequences for Offenders of the Code of Conduct

First Offense

The camp director will have a one-on-one talk with the offender. If the camp director is a young adult, he/she together with an older co-director, education director, or other parent will talk with them.

Second Offense

• The camp director and, if applicable, a parent will have a talk with the child and the child's parents. If the child is adopted, parents will be called on the phone and the adopted parents will be included in the talk.
• The child will be told to sleep in the parents'/adopted parents' cabin the next night.
• If the child's offense was during the last night of camp, they will have to sleep in the parent's cabin the first night of the next program they participate.
• They will not be allowed to be a group leader or main staff member for 1-2 years. Exact time to be decided by the program director, based on the severity of the offense.
• They will be told that a 3rd offense will have the consequence of having to leave camp or not be allowed to camp for 1 year.

Third Offense

• The offender will be asked to leave camp. The unused portion of the camp fee for any accompanying family member can be refunded. The fee for the offending person will not be refunded.
• If the 3rd offense happens during the last night of camp, their registrations will be blocked for 1 year unless there is a written apology and promise to follow the camp rules.

Guidelines for Enforcing Curfew

It is recommended that the program director assign a reliable person to do a night patrol check on some nights, and especially on the last night. This role is not an official volunteer assignment. The night patrol person must know the faces and names of each person in the assigned teen lodge and have parent contact information on hand.

Curfew and Cabin Checks

12:00 am is lights-out time, the latest time when everyone is supposed to go to sleep. Camp directors can change the lights-out time (example: 11:00 pm during a week with younger families). Rather than continuously patrolling all of camp, the night patrol conducts a random cabin check at an unannounced time between lights-out and 5:00 am. The number of people in each building should match the number on the list and notes the names of the people missing.

If someone is not in their assigned lodge

1. The night patrol calls the missing person's parents (or adopted parents), or knocks on the parents' cabin door — regardless of the hour.
2. The parents are responsible for finding their child.
3. The night patrol reports the names and incident to the camp director the next morning.
4. Consequence: The person must sleep in their parents' (or adopted parents') cabin for the remainder of the week and this counts as a first offence. If it's the last day of camp they will have to sleep in their parents' cabin next year.

Locating Missing People

If the missing person cannot be found right away, the meadow, the sports field, the dining hall, empty staff buildings and cabins, the pool area, and the waterfall just outside of Shehaqua are places where people have been found in previous years.

Park Rangers

In the past, the park rangers have patrolled the park at night, and they got very upset when they found campers wandering around outside of camp after midnight.

Guidelines for Enforcing Other Offenses

For offenses other than violation of curfew, such as inappropriate clothing, inappropriate language, or flirting, the camp director and, if applicable, a parent should also have a talk with the offending person and their parents. The Three-Step Process for Consequences for Offenders of the Code of Conduct applies for such offenses, too.