Kool Kids Club

It’s that time of year again! Hale Baptist Church’s children’s program, the Kool Kids Club, will be returning on Wednesday September 21st. Please note there has been a time change for the Club! Due to Hale Schools dismissing earlier this year, the Club has been moved to 3:15pm-4:45pm. The volunteer staff of Kool Kids Club is dedicated to providing a safe, faith educational, and fun environment for all children whom attend. Please review the information below if you and/or your child are considering attending our club. We would love to see your Kool Kid there!

The Kool Kids Club has been in operation for over ten years. Its purpose is to provide a safe and fun environment in which children can learn more about Jesus Christ and what’s in the Bible. The Club aims to help children grow both in faith and maturity. There is a heavy emphasis on learning how to love and appreciate others, to respect and encourage those around them, and to make wise decisions with our words and actions. It is our goal that all Kool Kids would leave our doors at the end of every Wednesday group time encouraged in their faith and positive behavior, and carry both on into the future. The operations of the Club consist of: snack time, story time, puppet show time, craft time, music time, and play time (indoor/outdoor in the spring, summer and early fall; indoor only during late fall and winter).

The only time the Kool Kids Club does not meet is during summer vacation, holiday breaks, half school days, teacher in service days, and snow days. Basically if there’s no school, there’s no Kids Club! In case of emergency cancelling that is not due to these reasons, all parents will be contacted in a quick, orderly fashion. For the latest, fastest updates please follow this page!

All volunteer staff at the Kool Kids Club undergo background checks to ensure the children are taught and assisted by the safest staff possible. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer needs to alert the church at least a week in advance of attending, and is subject to an interview and background check prior to approval. Hale Baptist Church reserves the right to not accept volunteers if there is legal and/or probable cause behind the decision. Questions can be messaged to this page or submitted at hbkoolkidsclub@gmail.com.

It is a requirement of Hale Baptist Church that all children attending have a permission form on file with a legal guardian’s signature. The form is available on request; message this page or hbkoolkidsclub@gmail.com for more info. Please fill it out and have your Kool Kid bring it on the first day of their attendance to the club. For the sake of both your child and the Club staff, all emergency contact and medical information must be provided. Also, for the safety of all children, the Club understands there are situations where certain adults are NOT allowed to pick up your child/children. Please list who CANNOT retrieve your child under ANY circumstances in the provided space. If additional room is needed for you to list the emergency/medical/pick up information, please feel free to write the description on a second page and attach it to the permission form.

There is no closing date for registration! Any child can attend this Club on any Wednesday of the year, so long as there is a permission form on file for them. If a child attends that does not have a form, they will be given one to take home. This form must be turned in to Hale Baptist Church before the child attends again, or they will be sent home on the school bus. Again, requests for permission forms can be messaged to this page or sent to hbkoolkidsclub@gmail.com; a digital copy can be sent for printing, or one can be mailed to you if needed.

For children who have severe food allergies, we unfortunately cannot 100% guarantee there will not be cross contamination at the Club. Snacks containing peanuts, dairy, gluten, food dyes, and other allergens are served weekly to the multitude of children who attend. We recommend that children with food allergies bring their own snack, and those with deadly allergies to personally consult with the Club prior to your child’s attendance. Any children with medical assistors, such as inhalers and EpiPens, need to be declared to the staff in case of medical emergency. Hale Baptist Church takes the safety of all children who attend very seriously, and encourage parents/guardians to report any questions or concerns they may have to this page or at hbkoolkidsclub@gmail.com.

Kool Kids Club does have methods of transporting your children home at the end of the group (4:45pm). However, the church currently only has one passenger van that can only transport 13 children at a time. Due to this, children may not be home earlier than 5:30-6:00pm, or later. Therefore we highly encourage and appreciate all Parents/Guardians that pick up their child/children at 4:45pm or arrange for another approved contact to do so; please have the contact bring a written note of permission from the legal guardian if that person is not listed on their permission form. For the safety of all, children will NOT be released to anyone not on the permission form for pick up without a written and signed note of approval from the child’s legal guardian.

Due to the high volume of children who attend the Kool Kids Club and our only means of transport being a 15 passenger van (with 13 seats for kids, 2 in front for adult staff), the church van currently makes two trips to take everyone home. Hale Baptist Church very much appreciates all parents/guardians who pick up their Kool Kids, but also understand there are situations where that is not possible. Kool Kids Club aims to be accessible to all children for attendance to the best of our ability. Therefore we want to make all parents/guardians of van kids aware that two trips are made; the first at 4:35pm for kids who live in the Hale/National City/Whittemore(M-65) area, the second at 5:00-5:10 for kids in the Wickert Road/Lupton/South Branch area. There are NO rides provided whatsoever for Glennie, Prescott, Tawas City, West Branch, etc, due to distance. Please note that given the van currently runs two trips, your child may not be home before 6pm if they live in the Wickert Road/Lupton/South Branch area. Parents/Guardians of children from those areas are highly encouraged to pick their child up if able.

Parents who are picking up their children will be able to enter the church’s front lobby (the white double doors) BUT will be able to enter no earlier than 4:45pm. For the safety of all Kool Kids and staff, all doors in the church are locked to prevent unapproved individuals from entering during the club time. The front doors will NOT be unlocked UNTIL 4:45pm. Parents are to stay in the lobby while a member of our volunteer staff retrieves your child/children. For the safety of all, NO PARENTS / GUARDIANS are allowed to enter the teaching areas to retrieve their children—the staff will bring them to you. If you need to pick up your child earlier than 4:45pm you will need to call the church at 989-728-3821 to alert the staff of an early pick up, so someone can let you in at the front lobby to retrieve your child. The phone rings directly into the classroom area and a staff member will answer it.

In addition, we require all parents/guardians/permitted adults that pick up the Kool Kids to present a Drivers License or Legal ID Card to confirm identity with the volunteer staff member at the pick up table. Given that the volunteer staff member at the pick up area may not always be the same person, all adults picking up children WILL be required to present one of those two forms of identification. This is especially so for those who are not listed as an approved pick up adult for the child on their permission form. This is a safety measure being implemented starting this year. We ask for and deeply thank this cooperation from all pick up persons for the safety of all our Kool Kids and their families, to ensure everyone gets home as safe, properly, and efficiently as possible.

The Kool Kids Club has expectations for the children who attend it. Firstly, all children are to line up promptly in the school hallways as directed by their teachers for the Club. A member of the volunteer staff will be there with an attendance check in list and mark off each child present before exiting the school and walking to the church next door via a fence gate; the children do not go out onto the road. Preschool and Kindergarten are collected separately from 1st-5th grade. All children are expected to respond to PAX hands & feet with no pushing, shoving, teasing, or bullying allowed whatsoever. Children are also not to run unless instructed by a staff member to do so (such as playing games or outside). Respect is to be shown to all staff members and fellow Kool Kids. Snack time is not to become a food fight and everyone is to take care of their mess. Kool Kids are to be attentive and participate in Club activities to the best of their ability. All games are to be played fairly and with everyone being a good sport. And overall to have fun with everyone!

On behalf of the Kool Kids Club, it’s volunteer staff members, the children who attend, and Hale Baptist Church, we thank you for reading through our Info Post. We encourage all legal guardians to like/keep this post for their personal reference. By signing the permission form, the legal guardian(s) agree(s) to all the rules and guidelines of the club. We thank you for your time, your support, and your prayers.

Hope to see your Kool Kids starting Wednesday September 21st!