Father: Girl Who Drowned "Didn't Know How to Swim"

Nicole Suriel

The father of a 12-year-old girl who drowned during a class trip in Long Beach, Long Island, told the NY Times, "We had so much fun there, going to the beach [in the Dominican Republic]. She loved the beach, but she didn’t know how to swim." Juan Suriel said he tried to teach her, but emphatically told the Daily News that daughter Nicole "did not know how to swim" and that he and his wife never signed a permission slip.

The Columbia Secondary School outing has raised questions about the supervision from adults (one teacher, a substitute teacher, and a student intern), the school's field trip procedures, and the Department of Education's oversight of field trips. Nicole and her classmates went to Long Beach, where signs clearly stated there were no lifeguards on duty and there was no swimming allowed. A classmate "told The Post yesterday that an adult supervisor said they could go into the water as long as they stayed in a certain area"; the boy said, "nobody warned us at all...[the adults were] supervising from the beach and gave us a limit of where to go [in the water]. That's all."

On Wednesday, a day after Nicole drowned, a 15-year-old Bronx High School student was saved from drowning off Long Beach. Lifeguards will be there full-time starting tomorrow.

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By Jen Chung in News on June 25, 2010 1:55 PM

Comments [rss]

inoyourider

Damn, what a shame.

Everyone should know how to swim.

The people at that school should get fucked over for this.

peoplevsgnomes

Rumor has it that there was yet another drowning today on Long Beach.

ides_of_march

I don't think the beach is an appropriate field trip for a school, I think they should be more educational in nature. In any event, that the school didn't check beforehand to make sure there would be lifeguards is completely negligent on their part. I can't begin to imagine how distraught the family must be to lose a child like this.

r1b2

Completely inappropriate, no question, irresponsible of the teacher involved.

ANGRYGOD11

Teachers don't get to decide on their own to schedule a class trip like this. There are a lot of good reasons why rules and oversight exist in schools and no reason, as far as I can see, why everything was ignored.

soxinthecity

One of the most important things that parents can do for their children is teach them how to swim. Start teaching them as soon as possible, definitely before they start school.

Stevennnn

Why aren't lifeguards on duty during the week as well? It's freaking summer in June. The summer is short as it is in this area to begin with.