Student drowns on class trip

[yoopermom]

As a teacher and parent, this is one of my worst nightmares:
http://www.wnem.com/hotlinks/19642156/detail.html

Most schools in our area go to Mackinac as part of their end of the year class trip somewhere between 4-6th grade. I've stayed at this Holiday Inn before, too. Report is saying that there were plenty of chaperones there, but somehow the child still drowned. No lifeguard, typical of most hotels. I come from a family of teachers, and, when we stay at a hotel together, we're the "worst" moms possible, yelling at our own kids and other people's kids in the pool, because it's so hard to keep track of them every single second, and some people just let them run loose. Uurgh. I can't imagine how the other kids that were there are going to feel, too.

Sigh.

Terri

[momrek06]

Oh, wow, this is so sad. He is adorable.

[Stacerita]

How horrible for the family.

[SCHBR'smom]

What a nightmare for everyone! I heard on the news before that drownings such as this are not from a lack of supervision, but a lax in supervision. It's one of my biggest fears when my kids go anywhere in such a large group.

[ajk912]

That's so sad!!

That type of thing TERRIFIES me. My cousin drowned when we were all teens (he was a year younger than me, he was my brother's age) it was so sad. I am so terrified it would happen again. My 9 year old son is going on a mission trip with the church in July (I am unable to go, I have no one to watch the other kids) and I will have to stress to him DO NOT GO DEEPER than you can stand!!! He is used to OUR pool, but not any other people..and like others say..it's not lack of supervision, but lax supervision. With all the kids everywhere, it's hard to see who is goofing off and who is drowning (unless you know your kid and know how they act!!)

BTW, my kids do take swim lessons..and my son can swim about half the length of the pool no problem. But then he starts freaking out and doesn't breathe right, and ends up gasping for breath and needs to stand up. They are all still in swim lessons. But still, because I know someone personally who drowned I am super paranoid about it. I hate to tell him he can't go..because of my paranoia..but I don't know. The whole situation is sad.

[RitaZ.]

That's very sad.

[piglet too]

So sad.

[happygirl]

How sad!! Prayer go out to his family

[wvjules]

The students on the trip are expected to be returning home Wednesday.

What!?!?!? How can any of them continue on with this field trip? That's another week. (Unless the article meant the were returning the day the article was written.)

Such as sad story. DD is going to Dorney Park with her class tomorrow. I'm going to be a mess. Amusement parks and rides make me nervous.

[TerriP]

Originally Posted by wvjules

What!?!?!? How can any of them continue on with this field trip? That's another week. (Unless the article meant the were returning the day the article was written.)

This student was in my girlfriend's daughter's class. The students returned home yesterday. If you're so inclined, please pray for the family of this young boy as well as for his classmates...as you can imagine, this is an extremely difficult time for so many.

[LuvOrlando]

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[agnes!]

My sympathies to the family & friends of the little boy. Here's his picture:



Kind of scary that there were 20-25 students in the pool area AND 12 chaperones AND 2 teachers...that's more than a 2-1 ratio of adults/children.

Originally Posted by LuvOrlando

... I would, however, recommend a buddy system with the restrooms because there are many many teens roaming around who take day bus trips without adults.... JMO

My rule when chaperoning on school trips and in Girl Scouts was "3(or however many were in the small-group) go in? Then 3 *better* come out."

We had always emphasized this but all it took, on an overnight camping-trip, was for one little Brownie to get left behind at the bathroom by some careless friends (what made it really scary for her is that it was after dark)...
NEVER *ever* happened again in any group I had responsibility for.

agnes!

[Jynohn]

This thread makes me so sad. My son's teammate drowned while they were at football camp in Maine two years ago. I'll never forget getting the phone call, my husband and I were at Disney at the time.

Prayers for this poor boy's family and all of his classmates.

[Geoff_M]

Originally Posted by agnes!

Kind of scary that there were 20-25 students in the pool area AND 12 chaperones AND 2 teachers...that's more than a 2-1 ratio of adults/children.

We had a student drown here a couple three years ago at the end-of-the-year pool party at one of our middle school pools. There were two classes of 5th graders, IIRC, swimming at the pool while teachers, some parent chaperons AND certified lifeguards supervised the party. Unfortunately, one boy slipped underwater unnoticed and laid there for several minutes before he was spotted. Police investigation determined that the supervision was in place at the time, there was not excessive "horseplay" involved, the pool was under its swimmer capacity, and proper procedures were being followed. It was a terrible accident.

In addition to the family of the child, keep the teachers and parents in mind too. The lifeguards in the above case were high-schoolers and my wife knows the family of one of them. Their child had to deal with a lot of emotional problems due to the fact that they internalized a lot of "guilt" that the boy's death was "their fault" even though they had been cleared by the investigation.

[hentob]

Originally Posted by LuvOrlando

If it makes you feel any better, I've been to Dorney Park many, many times and can tell you the lifeguards watching over the water areas are extremely vigilant. They stand over the pool area and do not hesitate to intervene if rough housing of any kind goes on in the water.

With that being said, there has been a drowning death at Dorney in the past

I worked there years ago and these lifeguards are just kids themselves...getting paid a low wage.

Dorney's Wild Water Kingdom is PACKED with children that are bussed in day after day. Many of these kids are not able to swim, yet there parents let them come and do the water park

I would NOT rely on any lifeguard. I would make sure my child was a VERY strong swimmer before I sent him/her on a swim trip without me. Even then, I would not be sure I would allow them to go

Those poor parents