Maryland lawmaker proposes teaching swim lessons in public schools – WTOP News

A Maryland delegate by no means realized to swim, however she desires future generations to have the prospect to study the talent at school.

Del. Karen Toles represents Prince George’s County, and is without doubt one of the sponsors of a invoice that may require the state’s Division of Schooling to develop a curriculum that may train swimming and water security to college students in grades 8 via 12.

“We nonetheless went to seashores, we nonetheless went to parks,” Toles mentioned. However she “by no means knew easy methods to swim, so I simply needed to sort of wing it.”

HB 1105 is enthusiastically supported by Nick Askew, the director of swimming and diving at Howard College in D.C. The boys’s swimming and diving crew received the Northeast Convention Championship final month, a historic win for the traditionally Black college in a sport that’s historically been predominantly white.

“This invoice is a big step in a route of with the ability to have an answer to this public well being disaster,” he mentioned.

Askew just lately testified at a listening to on the invoice and instructed lawmakers, “I implore you to consider our future. Drowning is the primary reason behind loss of life in toddlers age one to four-years-old.”

And in response to the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, “In swimming swimming pools, Black youngsters ages 10-14 years drown at charges 7.6 instances increased than white youngsters.”

Askew mentioned the invoice would go a good distance towards bringing “high quality swimming alternatives to our communities in Maryland,” in addition to selling water security and drowning prevention.

Toles mentioned that beneath the invoice, the swimming course could be an elective that college students may use to satisfy their bodily schooling requirement.

The invoice wouldn’t require public colleges to assemble swimming pools for instruction, however Toles mentioned colleges may companion with native amenities and departments of recreation to offer the teachings.

“At present, we’ve a program like that in Prince George’s County, but it surely’s for second-graders,” she mentioned.

There are only a few weeks left to get the invoice handed earlier than the top of the Maryland Normal Meeting session on April 10.

“You understand, something goes in Annapolis — issues can occur the final day,” Toles mentioned, including that she’s open to amendments, together with enacting the invoice as a pilot program.

“This can be a precedence” as summer season approaches, Toles mentioned. “We all know youngsters are going to the swimming pools. We all know they’re going to the seashores. Identical to they’re studying well being at school, they need to be studying easy methods to be secure in water.”

If enacted, the invoice would go into impact for the 2025-2026 college yr.