The City of Boulder’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board is calling on councilmembers to consider creating a new program that would provide free swim lessons to young children.
The city provides introductory swim lessons at the several recreation centers to children ages 5 to 13. But the lessons cost $75 for residents and are often booked out weeks in advance.
The request was made in a March 2024 letter to the newly elected Boulder City Council ahead of next month’s retreat, when councilmembers will decide their two-year policy agenda. The six-member volunteer board advises the city council on the maintenance and operations of the city’s parks and recreation centers.
The push for a “universal swim” program is part of a broader national effort to reduce racial and ethnic disparities among children who drown. Nationally, for instance, Black children drown at a rate that is about seven times higher than that of white children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Studies indicate a smaller disparity between Hispanic and white children in comparison.
“I see that certain populations are growing up in Boulder and don’t learn how to swim,” Anna Segur, a member of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board who helped draft the letter, told Boulder Reporting Lab. “This is an important life skill.”
The letter comes after a particularly deadly 2023 season in which at least three people drowned in Boulder Creek. On June 11, Romeo Alvarez, a 9-year-old boy, drowned near Eben G. Fine after falling off his tube. On June 15, Bibiana Mendiola Bocanegra, a 48-year-old woman, drowned when attempting to rescue a family member. On July 12, Candance Weber, 46, who was living near Boulder Creek, drowned after falling in.
During the summer months, residents often visit city pools, Boulder Creek or the Boulder Reservoir to recreate or cool down. But for some families, the water can be dangerous.
Yulisa Castro Robles, who lives in North Boulder, said she grew up in Zacatecas, Mexico. Her parents did not have the means to bring her to the beach, she said, and she never learned to swim. Robles said she has three daughters — ages 4, 10 and 14 — who also are unable to swim. She has sought to get them lessons at one of the city’s recreation centers, but the classes are always full, she said.
She said she worries about bringing her daughters to pools or other swimming spots because she would not be able to help them if they were drowning. She wants them to learn how to swim as a survival skill. She said other children in the Boulder Meadows community, which has a relatively high percentage of Latino residents, are unable to swim. She wants her children to be able to help other children, too.
Robles is planning to take her children to Ocean First, a swimming school and dive shop headquartered in Boulder, which offers scholarships. Assuming all goes to plan, she said she is looking forward to not worrying about whether to take her children to the water.
In addition to the challenges of getting a spot in a swim class, some families may not be able to afford the lessons.
The city offers low-income families financial aid to enter its recreation centers. Separately, the PLAY Boulder Foundation offers a “PLAYpass” to help cover the cost for sports and recreational programs. But during the Covid-19 pandemic, city funding for that program was cut in half and has remained largely unchanged since, according to Greta Sandberg, the foundation’s PLAYpass program coordinator. Sandberg said historically, the program has had a waitlist of up to 280 people.
City officials have said they generally support the idea of expanding swim lessons. But it would require more staff, resources and pool space. (Officials were not able to provide an estimate on how much it would cost to implement a universal swimming lessons program.)
In 2022, the city kept the South Boulder Recreation Center and Spruce Pool closed for the entire year, partially due to a shortage of lifeguards. Demand for lap lanes at the city’s five pools is high among residents and swim teams. Meanwhile, the South Boulder Recreation Center’s pool “is hanging on for dear life,” Scott Schuttenberg, the deputy director Parks and Recreation, told Boulder Reporting Lab.
“The more programs we put in the swimming pools, and more swim lessons we offer, the less access there is then for community members to come in and lap swim,” Schuttenberg told Boulder Reporting Lab. “We’ll expand where we can with our current resources and try to offer more classes. But, again, that’s challenging based on space and current staffing levels.”
Members of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board have suggested that the city partner with the Boulder Valley School District to expand swim classes. They have also recommended that the city teach classes at pools located at the city’s mobile home communities.
“We request that the City Council acknowledge the importance of water safety and work to provide universal swim lessons to all children in Boulder by committing to working with BPR and BVSD to identify funding and facility needs, and commit to funding this program in the next fiscal year,” the board’s letter to the Boulder City Council states.
Schuttenberg said the department is open to partnering with neighborhoods and the school district. He said city officials have spoken with BVSD officials about the possibility of a shared aquatics facility that could be used partially for swim lessons.
In the meantime, Schuttenberg said this summer, the city is planning to offer free monthly drowning prevention classes at recreation centers. The dates for the classes remain to be determined. Officials have said they will be taught in Spanish and English.
Price and availability were mentioned. I experienced the difficulty in singing up. To get a spot you need to sign up early. I’m not sure how it is now, but at one point some rec center lessons were filling up the same day. Don’t have a job where you can do personal business during the workday? You miss out.
And then there’s the logistics of getting a kid somewhere on a weekday afternoon / evening. RTD doesn’t even stop at East Boulder Community Center anymore, so your options are smaller than before if you don’t have a car, or if you only have one car that someone else in the family is using that evening.
I know there are all kinds of obstacles to getting kids in the pool during school days but I think it would go a long way.
Finally: you can be an amazing swimmer and still drown in Boulder Creek during high water. Whitewater is its own thing. Wear a PFD.
The city should explore the option of setting up temporary pools during the summer. Teaching little kids basic swimming/drown-proofing doesn’t require a full lap pool – an inexpensive above-ground pool could be installed temporarily along with safety fencing in a field or other open space near the communities where the need is greatest.