BOSTON (WHDH) - Changes are being made to city camp programs after a boy died at a beach in South Boston last week.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh met with parents Monday and counselors of the city drop-in program will be told of the new procedures moving forward.
The new procedures are as follows:
- Headcount of campers every hour
- Kids wear life preservers
- Increased staffing
- Two staffers to every 10 kids
Other plans include getting 34 surveillance cameras working, and limiting door-use to just one entrance.
This comes after Kyzr Willis, 7, went missing from camp at Curley Community Center last Tuesday. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said the director of the camp called 911 shortly after Kyzr’s older brother noticed his clothes were in the bathhouse but he was nowhere to be found.
Police, lifeguards and the Coast Guard searched for the Dorchester boy on land and in the water for approximately four hours. Evans said Kyzr’s body was found in the water at around 7 p.m. when he was located by sonar. According to police, an autopsy confirmed Kyzr’s cause of death was accidental drowning and no foul play was suspected. The director of the camp has been placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation is conducted.
A GoFundMe page has been set up in memory of Kyzr: https://www.gofundme.com/2gn6u4hv.
The Summer Youth Activities Program (SYAP) staff will undergo a full day of comprehensive training on the new procedures prior to SYAP returning to the Curley Center and the camp will reopen for children on Tuesday.
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