OXNARD : Swim Clubs Rescue Aquatics Program

When budget cuts left the city of Oxnard’s swim program high and dry for the summer, it appeared that the only swimming available to many kids would be in treacherous ocean currents.

But thanks to support from two private swim clubs, area children will be able to take swimming lessons at municipal pools this summer.

Last year’s $56,000 budget was barely enough to keep the pool open at Oxnard High School--just one of the three pools the city usually operated in the summer, said Paul Ronan, a city recreation coordinator.

This year, the entire swim program became a casualty of the city’s continuing fiscal problems, with spending for the municipal pools completely eliminated from the city budget, Ronan said.

To members of the Hueneme Swim Assn. and the Channel Islands Aquatics Assn., the situation was intolerable.

“We were disturbed that a community so close to the ocean would cancel their swim program,” said Hannah Dryer, a vice president of the Hueneme Swim Assn. “We were concerned that people would take their little children who can’t swim to the ocean.”

“The ocean is a poor place to learn how to swim,” said Todd Workman, a coach with the Hueneme Swim Assn.

In response to the city’s plight, directors of the nonprofit swim clubs each agreed to offer two-week sessions of daily swim lessons for beginners and practiced swimmers.

The Hueneme Swim Assn. offers classes at Hueneme High School in south Oxnard, while the Channel Islands Aquatics Assn.--through its subsidiary, Adventures in Aquatics--offers classes at Oxnard High School.

At a cost of $30 for the two weeks, the lessons are slightly more expensive than the $20 the city charged for its program, even though the daily rent for the pools is a third higher this year.

But even that would be a painful price to pay for many of the city’s less affluent families, Dryer said. The club has appealed to civic groups in the area for assistance, and plans to offer partial or complete scholarships to some students.

Because they must pay for administrative and insurance costs, the swim clubs need to attract enough students to help cover the overhead. Otherwise, they say, the instructional programs will fold.

And that would be a loss to the entire city, Ronan said. “If the clubs didn’t do it, we wouldn’t have a program at all--that’s the bottom line,” he said.

For further information, call the Hueneme Swim Assn. at 985-3283, or the Channel Islands Aquatics Assn. at 385-7773.