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Gym Dandies Children’s Circus

Online Registration for Fall 2020

Registration:  7 PM Monday, Sept. 28 through midnight Friday, Oct. 2 Openings will be limited so don’t delay!

The Gym Dandies Children’s Circus of Scarborough is the largest continuously operating children’s circus in the United States and has received state and national recognition as an exemplary program for children.

To register please go to:  

Dear Gym Dandies Families,

Gym Dandies October classes

I have some good news and some bad news: First an apology to anyone who has tried to contact me, wondering about Gym Dandies this fall. I have been deeply immersed in making some sort of classes work and have not had any concrete answers to give.

The bad news. The Maine Principals’ Association has barred all indoor athletic activities and we fall under that category. That means no indoor Gym Dandies classes. That will be revisited in the winter and spring and we still have hope that we can have classes in some form in the gym before the year is over. So far we have not been able to figure out how to do Beginner classes in any other way. I am heartbroken that so many of the great things we do cannot happen this fall.

The good news. We have been able to arrange outdoor Gym Dandies classes for Performance and Intermediate Level Gym Dandies for the month of October. We are working on the possibility of some November classes as well. 

Beginners, please know that we will do everything in our power to offer classes in the winter, or find a way to teach beginners outdoors in the spring. The older kids are forging the way for us. Don’t give up hope!  Keep practicing at home!!

Here is the plan. We must strictly follow the Covid precaution guidelines of the Athletic Department, MPA and SMAA, in order to proceed. If we cannot stay within the guidelines we will be required to shut down. The guidelines may change at any time and we must be prepared to change with them. If Cumberland County is designated as yellow in the COVID advisories, we will have to discontinue classes.

Student/ Family responsibilities

• Students and parents must read the Athletic Department Guidelines and sign off on them in the registration process. Not everything is pertinent to what we do, but we must abide by all that is.

• Students and staff and volunteers will login and complete the Covid Screening Tool by 11:00 AM before practice.
• Any student, or adult participant, failing the screening, must stay at home, follow the Athletic Department Guidelines, and contact Mr. Sloatman.

• Careful records of screening results and attendance will be maintained and shared with the School Dept. for contact tracing if necessary.

• All participants, including staff and volunteers will wear masks, and maintain 6 feet of distance throughout practices and transitions including pick up and drop off.

• All Participants will sanitize hands before, after, and frequently during practice. Hand sanitizer will be supplied.
• Students will bring all of their own gear, including juggling equipment, safety gear, 20″ unicycle, and water bottle and take it home. We will not be storing gear at school. No giraffes for this short session.

• Everything must be clearly labelled with names. Gear cannot be shared. If anyone is lacking anything, it can be issued to them for the month session and they will be responsible for taking care of it and bringing it to class.
• Gear must remain socially distanced, 6 ft apart, during practice.
• Disinfectant spray will be on site for use by staff if needed.

• Spectators are not allowed at any athletic activities, per SMAA rules, so we ask all parents to stay in their cars during drop-off and pick-up and during practice. This is to minimize our number of contacts during practice.
• Unfortunately we have no gathering place, or means of supervision for SMS and SHS students between their school dismissal and our 4:00 start time. If their Gym Dandies day is the same as their in-school cohort day they should go home and return at 3:55 for practice.
• It is a great sadness for me that we cannot have student helpers join us in this session. I will involve them as soon as I can.
• We will have before class supervision for the few Wentworth students who might have Gym Dandies on their in-school cohort day. Details will be announced on that next week.

Here is what we are able to offer:

• Two Performance Level Classes (Tuesday and Thursday)                

Performance Level qualifications: Unicycle – 20 stationary and 8 tight figure 8’s , reverse direction forward/backward four times 10 ft each way; Juggling  – 30 cascade pattern with 3 juggling cubes.  

• Two Intermediate Classes (Monday and Friday) will be offered.                  

Intermediate level must be able to self mount a unicycle without a prop and ride 600 ft unassisted. 

• Classes will be outdoors. Classes will be on the Access Road behind Wentworth School from 4:00 to 5:30. 

• Students will be dropped off and picked up at the Middle School Visitor Lot, just behind Wentworth at the north end of the Access Road.
• Classes will run from the week of October 5 through October 30.

• Cost will be $40 per student for the session

• Classes will be cancelled in inclement weather.

• Classes will be up to 30 students supervised by Mr. Sloatman, Janoah Bailin, one other instructor and 2 approved adult volunteers. 

• Staff and volunteers will be trained in COVID precautions.

I would like to thank the Gym Dandies Board of Directors, Diane Nadeau, Asst. Superintendent, Kelli Crosby, Wentworth Principal, and Justin Ferreira at the Athletics Dept. for all the hard work and support they have contributed in the monumental task of adapting our program to the realities of covid.

Gym Dandies Lives!

Sincerely, Mr. Sloatman

2020 Virtual Gym Dandies

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