Nehemiah Center loses it

There was something special and entirely unique about the Nehemiah Center at Campbell School for many years, but we fear now it is entirely lost.Certainly Tondra Frisby, its former director, managed to make the impossible day-to-day tasks of running programming at the center, supervising children, interacting gracefully with their families and raising money to keep the doors open, look simple.None of that looks simple anymore, since Frisby's departure and we're woeful the current management team and the center's board are not up to the task. We appreciate their intent, we do.But it seems quite apparent the board is out-of-touch to the many tasks running an after school center requires, oblivious and out-of-culture, entirely.The Nehemiah Center board's decision to shut down the Comeback Kids program and send teenagers home informs us of that, among other alarm bells sounding after recent complaints about the center and the responses to those complaints from two board members and the center's new director.For eight years, Campbell School was a place the Comeback Kids, who are now teens, went, a place where they grew up, matured and took on responsibilities for younger kids. It was core to the programming, it worked. Now, it seems, as one board member indicated, management is more interested in peace and quiet at the school building than it is interested, or capable of maintaining, solid programming.The Chapel, the only remaining church organization still involved from what began as a coalition of churches, should declare success. It was a good eight-year run and Frisby's success was due to a large part by the founding commitment of four people at the center, Dr. Richard Koonce, Larrick and Kathy Zirkle and Tondra.The center's amazing programming was due to their teamwork, commitment and the constant presence of Patricia "Granny Pat" Marshall at the center. The current board did not, apparently, recognize it, or retain it, and it will not be able to sustain it or resurrect it.We fear the center, in this transition, has gone from a place where families benefit to a place where they do not. We urge the Nehemiah Center's board to take immediate action and consider closing down if its programming cannot be fixed.As long-time cheerleaders of the Nehemiah Center, we take no joy in having that view.