Parents enroll kids in free swim lessons

When 13-year-old Julius Johnson III goes to the pool on a hot day, he avoids the deep end.

"I don't swim much," Johnson said Saturday at Timberline Pool in Brentwood, where the Town of Islip was registering children for free swim lessons. "I go for the fun of it."

His father, Julius Jr., 52, of Commack, said he doesn't feel comfortable with his son lacking a survival skill he acquired growing up, learning to swim at Jones Beach.

"When I grew up, we all swam and I want to make sure he's a good swimmer," the father said Saturday after enrolling his son for lessons.

Dozens of parents lined up with their children Saturday to take advantage of lessons. Many hope the instruction will keep their child from suffering a swimming tragedy like those that seem to make headlines every summer on Long Island.

"You just hear a lot of people drown every year," said Jamela Drissi, 35, of Bay Shore, who signed up her 12-year-old, Iman, for lessons. "You want to be able to send them to the pool sometimes. I don't send them on a playdate if there's a pool."

This summer is the second year that free swim lessons have been offered in Brentwood. Last year, the drowning death of 11-year-old Trezon Lindor, who died in a friend's pool in Bay Shore, sent shock waves through the community. After the boy's death in June 2010, Gerilyn Curtin Lessing, a teacher at Bay Shore Middle School, and her father, Jerry Curtin, a local businessman and Islip resident, donated $10,000 to provide free swim lessons to children in Brentwood and Bay Shore.

Normally, swim lessons at the municipal pool cost $55 for a 10 half-hour sessions.

Norma Gonzalez, 40, of Bay Shore, signed up her two kids, Jara, 9, and Amani, 7. Many parents forgo swim lessons "because it's not affordable," she said.

Donated money pays for swimming lesson vouchers that are used at the Great South Bay YMCA's Timberline Pool. More than 100 kids took lessons, and this year, organizers hope to train more children. A nonprofit corporation has been formed to support the Trezon Memorial Learn to Swim Program, Lessing said Saturday, adding that a fundraiser was held last week.

"Swim lessons are expensive, especially when you have multiple kids," Lessing said. "Swim lessons might not be their first priority. But living on the South Shore, with all the water, it's something that needs to be made a priority."