The Learning Pools : L.A. School District Revives Popular Program That Teaches Children How to Swim

Jose Prado might have missed his chance to float.

The 8-year-old central Los Angeles resident had never been in a pool before this summer. And if the Los Angeles Unified School District had not revived its summer water instruction program, Jose would have remained landlocked.

But Jose spent almost two weeks learning how to swim in the district’s portable pool at Pio Pico Elementary School, and now he takes to the water as if it were a second home.

But he still gets nervous before some classes, such as a recent one on back-floating.

“I thought I was going to die!” Jose said, shivering as he dried off outside the pool. But he said he plans to start going to the local public pool. “I’ll go in all day,” he said.

If the school district had not rearranged its budget this year, Jose and about 10,000 other Los Angeles youngsters would have been left high and dry. After being mothballed for two years, eight portable pools will be installed at 32 Los Angeles elementary schools this summer, where instructors will teach water safety to children.

The program, targeted for elementary school children, began in 1962. But in 1992, budget cuts forced the district to cancel the program, which costs about $100,000 a year, said Don Wertz, the district’s senior recreation director.

However, after two summers without the pools, the district came up with the money. “It’s a pretty fair chunk of money,” Wertz said, “but you stop and say ‘Wait. We’re teaching 10,000 youngsters to swim. Is that worth it? You bet it is.’ ”

When Ron Kasparian learned that the program was being cut in 1992, he was devastated. “I thought it was tragic, I really did,” said Kasparian, in his 29th year with the program. “I never thought they’d bring it back.”

When he heard that the program was back this year, Kasparian, a high school baseball coach, returned to his position as program supervisor.

“The program sells itself,” Kasparian said. “It’s probably one of the best programs L.A. has.”

Wertz guessed that 150,000 Angelenos have been taught in the program’s 30 years. It is so popular, Wertz said, that parents who swam in the pools as children call the school district to find out when the pools will be in their area.

The half-hour classes, offered between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., are free. The pools are used by students at year-round elementary schools or neighborhood children who come by and sign up. Kasparian recalled that children would follow one pool from school to school, including a time when a high school junior followed a pool around all summer until he taught himself to swim.

Wertz said the program’s greatest benefit is that “a youngster can learn to handle himself in the water. . . . This is why people drown. Because they haven’t taken any lessons, they don’t know how to handle their bodies in the water.”

Many of these children, Wertz said, have not had the chance to take swimming lessons, at private or public pools.

After leading a group of Pio Pico students in an aquatic session of ring around the rosy, Amanda Feld, who coaches Santa Monica swim teams from ages 6-17, said: “I think these kids have a good future” in the water.

“I usually work with kids who are more privileged and who don’t appreciate this as much,” Feld said as third-graders frantically toweled off nearby, asking if the pool would stay at their school.

“I want to get back in the pool,” said Genovia Herron, 7, a sentiment echoed by her classmates.

“It’s summer and it’s hot, and there’s nothing fun to do,” said Jusa Mejia, 7, who said she was scared while floating on her back yet eager to try it again.

Not all student swimmers are as enthusiastic, said Thomas Baham, an instructor at the Pio Pico pool. “The biggest challenge is getting their faces in the water,” he said. “Most of them haven’t touched water before.”

Children sometimes start crying when they have to go into the pool for the first time. Instructors assign homework, in which the students are supposed to put their face in the water in the bathtub to get used to submersion. Eventually, Baham said, most get used to being in the pool and want it to stay.

When asked what he would do after the portable pool left Pio Pico, 7-year-old Tristan Martinez said, with a slight smile, “I’ll cry.”

Baham says teaching water-shy children is worth the effort. “You get to meet the kids, they get to know you,” he said. “It’s an accomplishment. It’s nice to know you’re helping out.”