Giggling and shivering in the cold pool water, 3-year-old Noah Baxter wrapped his arms around swim teacher Lisa Weitzman-Alford’s neck as she swung him in a slow circle. “Speedboat, speedboat, go so slow,” Weitzman-Alford sang, increasing speed while instructing Noah to hold his arms straight in front of him. “Speedboat, speedboat, go so fast!”Over the next 30 minutes, Noah and four other toddlers taking the “Learn to Swim” course recently at Allentown’s Mack Pool practiced floating on their backs, holding their breath and pulling themselves out of the pool ? all skills they’d need if they ever fell into water and there was no grown-up around to help.Children swimming in Shanghai Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children between the ages of 1 and 4, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and an average of 350 children under the age of 5 drown in pools or spas each year. Most drownings happen in the summer, and in backyard pools. Just two weeks ago, a 1-year-old boy drowned in his Weisenberg Township family’s pool. King Reyes was found unresponsive in the water, and pronounced dead at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. His death was ruled an accident. The danger of drowning is greatest for children of color, according to the USA Swimming Foundation, which found that 64% of African American children and 45% of Latino children have no swimming ability. About 40% of white children do not know how to swim, the foundation found. Despite the danger, there are fewer free or affordable water safety classes for children offered in the Lehigh Valley than there were just five years ago, local swim instructors say. State laws that require a higher ratio of teachers to day care students during “dangerous” activities like swimming, plus the trend of municipalities swapping pools for spray and splash parks, are causing the shift.“There’s no doubt that these changes could be putting children in danger,” said Dave Fagerstrom, CEO of the Greater Valley YMCA, which oversees municipal pools in Bethlehem, Easton and Catasauqua. “A splash park is great, but it’s not going to help a child learn how to swim.” There are dozens of private swim clubs in the Lehigh Valley, and most offer swimming lessons for children. But club memberships are financially out of reach for many families, said Penny Pantano, owner of Swim-in Zone Swimming Academy in Center Valley. At Pantano’s school, it’s $23 a class for a 3-year-old to learn to swim. She used to apply for grants to host free swim programs for low-income day care students, but said she had to discontinue the program because the schools she worked with could not afford to hire enough staff to accompany the children to the pool. Pantano said she even tried offering reduced rates to day cares, but no schools signed up. In addition to one aide per every five children, a lifeguard certified to work with day care students is required by the state, Pantano said. Students also need swim goggles and towels, and schools must provide transportation. Faced with those costs, the day cares Pantano previously worked with moved to land-based sports.
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