Santa Fe Mountain Center

My son and several friends were signed up through an outside camp to participate in a rope course at the Santa Fe Mountain Center (SFMC). SFMC had done this ropes course for the outside camp 2 prior summers. Apparently there was some mis-​communication this summer and the children were not allowed to participate in the ropes course. I called SFMC because I wanted to hear their side of the story. I spoke with Marge Kelley, SFMC Associate Director today and she was very defensive and rude. Apparently at least one parent had called her and yelled at her. However, I was not rude nor was I yelling– a fact that Ms. Kelley acknowledged during our conversation. Ms. Kelley explained that this program was for under pirvileged, at-​risk children who knew each other well, which made my son and his camp unqualified. OK. What I objected to was her defensiveness and rude comments. She was unprofessional. In the end she said, «I need to go,» and then hung up before I could even say, «Goodbye» or «Thank you.» This woman is the associate director? I would not send my child to their program no matter how at-​risk they are. I’m sorry that my tax dollars are funding such an ill-​run, unprofessional program. At-​risk children deserve better.
Update: A few months later, my son’s public school class attended this program. The funny thing is that this field trip was conducted at the beginning of the school year –violating Ms. Kelley’s stated «rule» that her ropes program was for kids who had known each other for an extended amount of time. Also, we live in a very upper-​class community. Most families who attend my son’s school make over $ 100K per year. This seems to violate the «at-​risk» and «under privileged» requirement. This only reinforces my feeling that this program is ill-​run, unprofessional, and a mis-​use of our tax dollars.