Swim lessons are in high demand as Juneau faces a shortage of lifeguards and instructors.
The city’s parks and recreation department opened registration for a parent and toddler class on Friday. The 10 spots were claimed within minutes, according to the city’s aquatics manager, Terra Patterson.
She said a shortage of lifeguards has led to a shortage of swim instructors.
“It’s really hard to offer swim lessons when a lot of your instructors are also lifeguards,” she said. “If you don’t have lifeguards to stand on the pool deck, you can’t put people in the water to teach.”
That shortage, along with pool closures during the height of the pandemic, impacted kids of all ages. The city offered a limited number of classes last year, but not enough to serve all the kids who needed them.
“In addition to all these young children who need to get into lessons to learn how to swim, we have all these kids that for two plus years haven’t been able to get into swim lessons,” Patterson said. “It’s a compounded problem.”
The city’s pool supervisors are now trained to teach new lifeguards, which has helped reduce the shortage. But more broadly, Patterson said, the pools are facing the same labor shortage as other city employers.
Patterson said getting young kids comfortable in the water is vital, especially in Southeast Alaska.
“If they are scared of the water, they don’t want to put their face in the water and they don’t feel comfortable in the water, they can’t relax enough to learn how to float,” she said. “Floating is the first stage of learning how to swim.”
The parks department will offer a second parent and toddler class at the Dimond Park Aquatic Center next month. Registration for that class will open on Feb. 16.
Class registration for kids three and up will also open Feb. 16. Those classes will be at the Augustus Brown Swimming Pool.
The Augustus Brown pool will close for renovations from April through at least December. Those staff will move to the Dimond Park Aquatic Center, allowing the city to offer year-round lessons after school and during the summer.
