PA/CIT placement process:

   This should serve as a guide on how PAs/CITS are placed in units at Mountaindale West Day Camp as a PA/CIT.

General guidelines about PA Placements:

  1. Family members (campers, adults, and PAs) will not be placed in the same unit.  The exception to this rule will be if a sibling camper is placed in either ODS or PAITs since there is only one of each of these units.

  2. There will be NO friend requests for PAs.

  3. Requests for units will be taken into consideration, but no guarantees are made that those placement requests will be made.

  4. PAs will serve only ONE year in any one unit.  This includes the sibling units.

  5. The oldest sibling unit will have only PAs entering 10th grade and above with an emphasis on placing more experienced PAs in this unit.

Placements with known criteria:

PLATINUM PAS:

These PAs are a valuable resource and they will be placed in a unit where their expertise and mentorship will be of most use.  Exceptions to the general guidelines may be made for these placements as the needs are determined.

GOLDEN PAS:

These PAs may offer a request of placement.  This request does NOT guarantee placement in the requested unit.  If a Golden PA is needed in another unit, particularly to maintain a balance of experience and skill, then they may not be placed in a unit or grade level they requested.

BALANCE OF SKILL:

It is the goal that each unit has PAs that provide a balance in skill, expertise, leadership, and mentoring.  This means that we try to place newer PAs with more experienced PAs in units.  This allows more experienced PAs to mentor newer PAs and gives newer PAs an opportunity to lead and learn.

PA LIMITATIONS:

A PA may have a limitation. The fact that a limitation exists is noted and will not prevent a PA from being placed.  Rather, it will be used to place them so that they and MDW will be the most successful.  These cases will be evaluated on each individual basis during the placement process.

PAPERWORK, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND PRIOR YEAR EVALUATIONS:

When placing PAs multiple factors are taken into consideration.  The information on a PA’s application, the references they receive, and the evaluations from the prior year.  Evaluations for 8th grade PAs comes from the prior year PAIT program at MDW.  These evaluations will consist of the PAIT grades and PAIT evaluations.

PA DISTRIBUTION:

PA distribution can change from year to year based on information and knowledge learned from previous years and MDW needs.  To help understand how PAs are distributed the following GENERAL guidelines are followed.  Note that MDW may choose to make adjustments to the distribution if the camp needs determine it is necessary.

UNIT DISTRIBUTION:

  • Sibling – 2 PAs per units.  Large older sibling units could have 3 PAs

  • Daisy – 2 PAs per unit.

  • Brownie – 2 PAs per unit.

  • Junior – 3 PAs per unit.

  • Outdoor Skills (ODS) – As needed dependent on unit size in 2022.

  • Program Aides In Training (PAITs) – As needed dependent on unit size in 2022.

After the Initial PA/CIT Selection and Placement Process:

   This should serve as a guide on what happens once the selection and placement process is complete.  This will include information on what happens if MDW needs to change the number of PAs needed or if selected PAs can no longer attend camp.

MDW DETERMINED MORE PAS ARE NEEDED:

In the event that more PAs are required to fill the needs of camp the selection process may be slightly different based on MDW needs.  The process is as follows.

  1. Determine if MDW needs to fill a specific need. The PAs on the waitlist will be evaluated to meet that need and if a match is found the PA will be selected.

  2. If there is not a specific need other than the need for more PA resources, the same selection process as noted in the selection section of this document will be used.  In short, PAs will be selected based on filling the quota for each grade level.

SELECTED PA CAN NO LONGER ATTEND CAMP.

In the event that a selected PA can no longer attend camp the following process will be used to fill the vacant position.

NOTE:  It is possible that the selection of more PAs or the replacement of an absent PA CAN change the placements.

  1. Grade level replacement will be the first choice as this maintains the grade level distribution of PAs to units
    a. If there are multiple PAs that would meet the grade level replacement criteria, the first thing that will be checked is whether there are siblings confirmed for MDW.  If there are multiple PAs on the waitlist, in the required grade level, that have siblings then the PA who is registered earliest will be selected.

  2. If there are no replacements for the grade level needed, then the next closest grade level will be accessed, this continues until a replacement is found.
    a. This process would be the same as 1a above.