Another School Went To Lifeguard-Less Long Beach

Now it turns out that another public school—PS 3 in Greenwich Village—had a field trip at Long Beach last Tuesday, the same day that Columbia Secondary School sixth grader Nicole Suriel drowned there. According to the Daily News, 50 students from PS 3—with 24 adults—"got in the water with Columbia Secondary School kids at Long Beach, where no lifeguards were on duty." Columbia Secondary's field trip had about two dozen students, supervised by three adults. Apparently the DOE doesn't require a lifeguard on duty for swimming at this time; a spokeswoman said before any changes are made to the regulations, the department is "awaiting an outcome of an investigation."

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By Jen Chung in News on June 29, 2010 3:30 PM

Comments [rss]

v2jim

There was a class from PS 3 that went to Long Beach that same day. The student to parent ratio was good. Also, the parents were in the water marking the distance students were aloud to venture. All in all, this will probrably be the last year for beach field trips.

JacqueMehoff

I've met some parents from PS 3, many are well off and can take the time off to chaperone, volunteer, fund raise etc.

I went to a poor school, I think we had 3 chaperones on our field trips. I remember a kid who used a wonder bread bag to carry his lunch.

m015094

If the kid could afford Wonder bread instead of the generic store brand, then he wasn't THAT poor - or his parents weren't fiscally responsible.

JacqueMehoff

yeah, and he wore skippys because they look better than pro-keds.

newyorkstreetfood

My kids went to PS3 and having 24 adults for 50 kids at the beach makes sense. It was probably 2 kids per adult with one adult not showing up that day. That's responsible.

The other school had 3 adults for 24 kids, which is 1 adult per 8 kids. Bad idea!

nicemarmot

What the hell is the matter with these school administrators? I lived near the beach growing up and our schools never took us there. Ever. There may have been exceptions, but I don't know what they could possibly have been. Why would they have taken us anywhere that resulted in that kind of liability for them?

jamie

Brighton and LB are about a 20 minute drive from each other (no traffic). Not really close.

And yeah, can't imagine allowing my child to go to a beach or pool without a lifeguard present. Seems like it would be an insurance liability for the DOE too, no?

Adults can make their own decisions and assume the risk, kids not so much.