[ Story - Quad City Times, 5 Oct 2005 ]

At first glance people wouldnt care much. Davenport North is my high school of graduation. Davenport North, while I attended, and up until 2 years ago, had no swimming pool. At Davenport North, in those previous years, we never, ever, heard a complaint from the general population about not having swimming in gym.

So. The school district, the ymca, and several loud parents and swim team members pushed and bitched. A few years ago, 6.5 million dollars was coughed up by our destitute school district to dig a hole and fill it with water. Sure part of that paid for an auditorium, which, my school also lacked... but hell... we lived with a gym for 12 years that was 1/3 the size of my jr. high's. And by poor, i mean, bare bones broke, according to the school district budgeting, or how theyve issued 47 million dollars in bonds in the past few years. but i digress. they dropped in a pool which was structured that they pay the building costs, and defer any day to day payments, maintenence or staffing, for 25 years. in return, they have free use of the facility, and donate the land. ... see where this is becoming a problem?

we now have swimming classes, on our schools property, for kids that didnt want to swim. the classes are taught by gym staff, only half a pool at a time! because the ymca retains the right to allow half the use of the facility for "paying" patrons. so. the question is. when someone dies, or is injured... who pays?

this week a student, professing several times how he can not swim, drowned the first day in the pool in his mandatory "water safety course" per the school district. my thought was why the hell did that happen? the police department have deemed it accidental. really.... kids choose to drown? kids that cant swim, in 11 feet of water, with no training, choooooose to drown? no. what they should have established was the drowning was not accidental, it was foreseeable. unfortunate. unintended. but god almighty, quite forseeable. think for a second about this application of logic... is it "accidental" if a soldier dies 20 seconds on the battle field, if we revoked the 8 week boot camp, and time in theater, before hes sent out? is it "accidental" when an accountant defrauds a company, when the accountant has no certifications? is it "accidental" to loose control of an suv moving 80 miles an hour on ice covered streets, while the driver is drunk? no. in every instance, its a definite risk of entailment. not an accident. its an assumed liability. this school district took off assuming the possibility of death, and wishes it didnt happen.

while the school district is going to cling tightly to its bible of state policy, and quote the scripture stating, "we were following policy!", its not much justice to family or the situation. in presuming the only method of "water safety" was to drunk children, the school district is erroneous on several counts. first, that its not an accident that kids who cant swim will drown; two water safety can be taught from a book, or video, or other clever yet decades outdated technological marvel the schools could afford.

what am i hitting at? water safety is more than a shitty swimming lesson from an overweight frat drop out... er gym teacher. its about [drum roll] Safety, around water! for students that can swim; getting in the pool is great. but what about those that cant? id presume theyd be smart enough not to go in the water... this presumes more than the school district, which feels they should be soundly submerged. after all, its educational this way. however. maybe they will now reconsider ways of alternative education... say... for non-swimmers; how to recognize the hazards of open water, how to save a person from shore, what safety mechanisms are around you to use, cpr or rescue breathing and shock treatment, or just the generic fat ass paper on how you can die swimming. for swimmers; they could HAHA actually learn a life saving technique, cpr or rescue breathing, how to tandem save a person, how to inspect for safe swimming, how to watch for signs of non swimmers struggling, and prove proficiency in swiming. isnt that educational? more so than watching a classmate die, on his first day. which is tragic. its terrible. and its heart breaking.

anyways. the sadest part of the story is. kids who cant swim, are going to be forced into the water. this is the age of "not my fucking kid!" in education; where parents can pull kids from health class for fear of boobies; yank kids out of science for fear of man and the monkey; and run screaming if we dont gratify the young, budding, homosexual in class we all profess to love--- just not that way. in this age, i can refuse vaccinations of dangerous diseases, that even Ethiopia can conquer, because my child is amish.... but. my child can not opt out of potentially deadly "water safety" education without penalty. lets mull on this. my child, is required to fullfil the course requirements, even if he feels unsafe to the point of potential injury or death to participate, or he risks academic penalty. how wrong is this? its just, according to our courts, for christian science nut jobs to not vaccinate for measles mumps and rhubella then turn them loose with our children... its just, that students can be removed from class rather than see a shitty 2D diagram of a cut away vagina... and its just, that we make sure that every gay kid will not be referred to as such that they are... but its not just for my kid to get the hell out of a dangerous situation, where HE OR SHE FEELS INCOMPETENT TO SUSTAIN THEIR OWN LIFE.

this is rediculous. and its far from "accidental" when this poor kid dies in the water because of it. he did it because otherwise hed fail gym. hed fail it. who fails gym? convicts pass pe. they have passing grades for kids with CP that will never understand they cant walk. but they would fail this kid if he wouldnt get in that water. he got in way over his head. and did the school district predict this kind of thing? with no lifeguard on this side, for the kids that cant swim, but one for the lap swimmers.... cant they see that they are missing the student who voiced concerns about not making it? not once in 30 minutes did they? not once! god dammit. isnt that the kid you want to watch the closest? isnt that the one you dont let go of as an instructor? because what if that was your kid? and accident is something dropping. a dish. a spoon. this kid couldnt swim, they put him in the water, then didnt bother to look for him in 30 minutes. thats no accident. thats a horrid truth to all of this.

so now that im standing on my alan shore soap box, i have to say. this is a travesty. this is incompatible with what we want our children to learn... teaching water safety shouldnt result in the death of a student, it shouldnt. its wrong. but it happens now. and they were following policy. policy, in this sense, became more important that seeing to the life of a student. policy said, get this kid in the water. and policy says its "accidental" if this is the result. ... where do we draw the line? automobiles are a top killer of kids in high school; but we dont require "drivers education", its not only optioned, but its expensive to deter it! if a childs' parents fear for his mind to warp around a notion of men and women having sex, he can come out of class. no harm. no foul. but put kids in a life threatening situation, even when they tell us they dont feel safe, and it a requirement. a requirement like no other they face. one that in this circumstance, wrongfully robbed a family.

i hope to hell this family sues. i hope they win. i hope it bankrupts the school district. i hope it places someone personally liable for their actions. and i hope the school implements a reasonable stance on teaching water safety... one that avoids water for those that arent safe in it. and i hope the school district and the y, have to install an underwater monitoring system, at the cost of the policy administrators of the school system. in check, cash preferred. because thats justice. thats the american way. sue the assholes and take it from their hides... because in this country, thats all that seems to have an effect when it comes to following policy.