Positive Swim Signs: Brooklyn New School in the LIU Pool
FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN. It’s been a rough few years for swimmers in Downtown Brooklyn. As evidenced by the closing, due to a pending building sale, of the St. Francis College Brooklyn pool in Brooklyn Heights, there’s not enough pool time available for learn-to-swim programs in New York City’s most populous borough.
Hosting one of the area’s busiest aquatics facilities, St. Francis’ closure has compounded a shortage of available pool space in Brooklyn—a situation exacerbated by a lack of capacity at local YMCAs and a general lifeguard shortage throughout New York City.
[We Need MORE Swimming in Brooklyn]
Throw in an almost two-year layoff for many pools due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the situation for local families has been both protracted and bleak.
One bright spot has been recent efforts by Long Island University to make community swim instruction available to Brooklyn residents, particularly in the NYC DOE’s 13th school district, which surrounds LIU’s Fort Greene location.
Brooklyn New School students in the LIU Brooklyn pool. Photo: M. Randazzo
Last week the pool at LIU’s Steinberg Wellness Center hosted in-school time learn to swim sessions for third and fourth graders from Brooklyn New School (BNS). A magnet school located at the far corners of Cobble Hill, under the 25-year leadership of founding principal Anna Allanbrook the pre-K to 12th grade institution has promoted swimming as a foundational program for its second graders.
“We believe that every child should learn how to swim,” Allanbrook said recently on the LIU pool deck. “It is a fun, physical education opportunity. Children learn how to breath, float, blow bubbles and propel themselves in the water, developing competency in and around water.”
Working with Inclusive Community Wellness (ICW), a Brooklyn-based non-profit focused on health and wellness for New Yorkers, BNS took advantage of pool time that opened up after the LIU men’s and women’s swim seasons ended. Students are bused or take the subway to LIU, finishing out the last two periods of their day in the water.
Now that Covid-19 constraints have been lifted throughout NYC, the push to re-engage children in swim programs has gained momentum, thanks to the efforts of local educational leaders. LIU recently restored its Saturday morning learn-to-swim program, offering a reasonably priced alternative to other local programs.
Anna Allanbrook. Photo: NY Times
According to Allanbrook, who retired from BNS two years ago but remains active with the school, Covid-19 didn’t just impact in-school learning.
In March 2020 BNS pivoted to remote instruction. The school’s teachers effectively ported their school onto a screen, but not everything could make that transition. A key component of their educational program—second grade swim instruction—was suspended. It wasn’t until the fall of 2022 that BNS 2nd graders were able to get back to swimming as Asphalt Green on the Upper East Side opened its doors to them.
But the two-year suspension of swimming denied current BNS third and fourth graders a chance at learning to swim. So Allanbrook searched for a local solution and found it at LIU. Over a ten-week span her students will get in the water every Tuesday and benefit from the school’s focus on educating the whole child.
“Lots of kids in New York City never get the chance to learn how to swim,” Allanbrook said, underscoring the fact that approximately 25 percent of NYC school children cannot swim. “With LIU’s help we are changing that.”
With two groups of 30-plus BNS students in the water happily learning, Allanbrook—who cited the Japanese emphasis on educating children to swim—is gratified that BNS students are benefiting from a bounty of pool time in her school’s backyard.
“We are so excited and happy to see them learning this essential skill.”