Staff shortages could waitlist students wanting to partake in Madison summer activities

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Dane County Parks and Madison School and Community Recreation plan to keep programs going this summer, but staff shortages could change the number of students MSCR can accept.

Fish cleaning stations, campground maintenance and music festivals hosted at Dane County Parks can stay open due a high number of volunteers.

“At this point we’re not looking to close or reduce services even though our job applications are coming in slower than normal,” Dane County Parks Interim Director Joleen Stinson said. “A number of our opportunities for special events are based on partnerships and that we’re so lucky to have the strongest volunteer programs in the area that help us get through these leaner staffing times.”

Stinson is seeing half the number of job applicants she would usually see during the spring and summer seasons.

The lack of staff impacts MSCR Programs differently.

MSCR Elementary Psych Director Lupe Banda said they will need to limit the number of kids able to participate if they cannot hire more counselors.

”It’s a little heartbreaking when you’re like, ‘Oh man we don’t have a lot of staff.’ So we also don’t have a lot of kids it’s going to feel kind of weird,” Banda said. ”Imagine not having that much staff and imagine reducing the number of kiddos that we have to help.”

MSCR bumped up starting wages from $12 to $15 per hour to improve the staff shortage and find passionate, hardworking and versatile employees.

”It’s a very interesting profession to work with kids,” he said. “You need a lot of patience but I feel that if you have those three core fundamentals you could go a long way.”

Dane County Parks applications can be found on their website.

MSCR applications can be found on their website.

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