Phoenix Seeks to Recruit Minority Lifeguards, Even Ones Who Lack Strong Swimming Skills

Officials in a major U.S. city are reportedly seeking to fill their minority quota for lifeguard positions at public pools with those who require additional training in order to become proficient swimmers.

The city of Phoenix is looking to step up its diversity in the area of lifeguards. So much so in fact that 29 public swimming pools will reportedly now be manned by blacks, Latinos and Asians who may not have the advanced swimming skills required to succeed in their roles.

City official Melissa Boyle told the students she’s not looking for strong swimmers in her recruiting efforts.

“We will work with you in your swimming abilities,” Boyle said.

The kids in the pool are all either Hispanic or black or whatever, and every lifeguard is white and we don’t like that,” Boyle’s colleague Kelly Martinez said.

"The kids don’t relate; there’s language issues.” 

We dont like that??? Such an ignorant comment. Proficiency in swimming doesn't happen in a few hours or days. For lifeguards who not only have to swim but also have to be able to drag a flailing human out of the water without getting dragged under it is even more crucial to be able to master am aquatic environment. That takes continuous practice and training year after year. There would be no way I would trust my children to be safe with lifeguards that were hired as part of some affirmative action effort. 

So diversity is a more important value than the lives of the children, and possibly the lifeguard as well? Welcome to bizzaro world. 

So diversity is a more important value than the lives of the children

In the oh so compassionate religion of the Progressive, the dead children are martyrs for the God of diversity... 

Just when you think you have heard everything you can that's ridiculous...along comes another to top the previous.

So....are the life guards going to have a conversation with the drowning person....or are they going to rescue them? 

I talked to the swim coach that my child takes lessons from, and he talked about how absolutely dangerous saving a drowning person can be, because they panic and try to effectively climb the lifeguard to get above water. A lifeguard has to be very well trained in how to deal with that, and that STARTS with being a strong swimmer. 

Ummmm, that article twisted the program a little bit. Phoenix raised $15,000 in scholarships (not taxpayer money) to host the special program to train minorities prior to their applying for the positions. It's a special training program to give minorities a better chance at the jobs. They still have to pass the same tests at the end to be eligible for hire. Spin, spin, spin.


In an effort to diversify its ranks, the Phoenix aquatics department has spent over $15,000 in the past two years training and certifying minority lifeguards.

The city’s Melissa Boyle tells students she’s not even looking for strong swimmers to enter the program, as long as they aren’t white.

“We will work with you in your swimming abilities,” she said, according to NPR. “The kids in the pool are all either Hispanic or black or whatever, and every lifeguard is white, and we don’t like that. The kids don’t relate; there’s language issues.”

“Do you speak Spanish?” she asked a Latina student next to her. “We need more lifeguards who can speak Spanish.”

Two years ago, Becky Hulett, who oversees Phoenix’s public pools, began rethinking lifeguard recruitment. Traditionally, Phoenix’s 500 lifeguards came from more affluent parts of town further away from public pools, NPR reports.

“It really populated from schools that had swim teams, and so that was our feeder into our lifeguarding programs,” she said.

NPR’s Jude Joffe-Block observed that as the teens swam laps at Alhambra school, it was clear many hadn’t had much formal training.

“Honestly, I have a little bit a fear of the water, and I wanted to overcome that fear,” says high school junior Jesus Jimenez.

The city raised about $15,000 in scholarships in the past two years to offset the cost of lifeguard-certification courses. Recruits will have to pass a swim test at the end of the course in order to apply for a lifeguarding position with the city.

© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. 

Ummmm, that article twisted the program a little bit. Phoenix raised $15,000 in scholarships (not taxpayer money) to host the special program to train minorities prior to their applying for the positions.


Not to mention the obvious lie that the thread title is. No one has died. 

Where is the money coming from? 

Where is the money coming from?


The city raised about $15,000 in scholarships

That says private sector donations to me. 

If I was drowning I would't care if the lifeguard couldn't speak at all or what color they were as long as they knew how to rescue me. 

Qualifications for a LIFEGUARD......

The city’s Melissa Boyle tells students she’s not even looking for strong swimmers to enter the program, as long as they aren’t white.

Hmmmm 

The city’s Melissa Boyle tells students she’s not even looking for strong swimmers to enter the program, as long as they aren’t white.

Shameful.... Kids will be less safe under this program....

AND here is the kicker... The kids drowning will be MINORITY kids. 

The city’s Melissa Boyle tells students she’s not even looking for strong swimmers to enter the program, as long as they aren’t white.

I wonder what the EEOC has to say about this very clear racism. 

The kids in the pool are all either Hispanic or black or whatever, and every lifeguard is white and we don’t like that,” Boyle’s colleague Kelly Martinez said.

Another city official. Another blatant call to discriminate against white kids looking for a summer job. 

"The kids don’t relate; there’s language issues.”

The kids are there to swim and goof around...not to relate to or engage in some discourse with the lifeguards. 

I wonder what the EEOC has to say about this very clear racism.

 

Wow. Just wow. To add on to what WIP said, I heard that in the military if a drowning victim is being uncooperative and panicking like expected, the lifesaver will literally knock the victim unconscious to make sure everyone lives.
This is serious business. Who wants children to die, no matter what their color? Sick-o's. 

Someone suggested that the applicants still have the pass the test. Hopefully that would be the case. However, if it turns out that even after the swim lessons, these minorities still aren't qualified, what's the stop the city from lowering the standards? Does anyone honestly believe that they won't do this? It's easier to change the rules than to have to deal with community backlash (or cries of discrimination) if they don't hire minorities. 

Have any of you ever been lifeguards?

Yes, being a strong swimmer is a necessity, and that's what this program is teaching.

But, once those physical skills are in place, they really become second nature when there is a true emergency.

Life guarding is more than just the physical, because, no matter how strong you are or how awesome your swimming skills are, in most cases if you can't communicate with the drowning person and calm them down enough to get them to stop fighting, they'll take you down with them. I think that's the point here.

It's easier to teach the physical skills than it is to teach the language/communication skills. 

Does anyone honestly believe that they won't do this?

We have seen it time and time again in order to meet these type of quotas.....

Firefighters, Police, Nurses, even Bus Drivers......

Public safety takes a back seat to assuring these public servents have the correct skin color...... 

Which requires the longest training? Teaching strong swimmers enough words in Spanish to tell a drowning person to calm down...or...teaching a poor swimmer to become a strong swimmer coupled with lifeguard skills? And btw black people alread speak English. 

Ummmm, that article twisted the program a little bit. Phoenix raised $15,000 in scholarships (not taxpayer money) to host the special program to train minorities prior to their applying for the positions. It's a special training program to give minorities a better chance at the jobs. They still have to pass the same tests at the end to be eligible for hire. Spin, spin, spin.


No kidding. The white supremacist web-sites are really distorting and playing this up. Here is the original story, from NPR:

------

After noticing that most of the lifeguards at the public pools used by Latino and African-American kids were white, the Phoenix aquatics department decided to try to recruit minorities.

More than 90 percent of the students at Alhambra High are black, Latino or Asian. On a recruiting effort there over the winter, the city's Melissa Boyle tells students she's not looking for strong swimmers. Like many under-resourced schools, Alhambra doesn't have a swim team.

"We will work with you in your swimming abilities," Boyle says.

Boyle's colleague Kelly Martinez takes on the delicate task of explaining the scenario the city is trying to correct.

"The kids in the pool are all either Hispanic or black or whatever, and every lifeguard is white," she says, "and we don't like that. The kids don't relate; there's language issues."

Martinez turns to a Latina student next to her. "Do you speak Spanish?" she asks. "We need more lifeguards who can speak Spanish."

Economy
Making Summer Jobs Work For Teens

Competitive swimming still has a reputation as a white sport. And a national study released in 2010 found African-Americans and Latinos reported much lower swimming proficiency compared to whites.

"It's that catch-22," says Becky Hulett, who oversees Phoenix's public pools. "If the kids don't learn how to swim, as adults they are not going to swim, [and] they aren't going to take their own kids to swim."

So two years ago, Hulett began rethinking lifeguard recruitment. Traditionally, Phoenix's 500 lifeguards came from more affluent parts of town, most of which are farther from the public pools.

"It really populated from schools that had swim teams, and so that was our feeder into our lifeguarding programs," she says.

To help diversify its lifeguard ranks, the city raised about $15,000 over the past two years in scholarships to offset the cost of lifeguard-certification courses. Recruits who pass a swim test at the end can apply to be city lifeguards.

As the teens swim laps at Alhambra, it's clear many haven't had much formal training. But the coaches of the course aren't fazed and are prepared to put in the time to teach.

"Honestly, I have a little bit a fear of the water, and I wanted to overcome that fear," says high school junior Jesus Jimenez. He didn't grow up going to pools with his family but likes the idea of lifeguarding.

"It is nice to have the satisfaction of knowing that if somebody is in trouble you can save them at any time," he says.

If he is selected to be a lifeguard, other pool staff will work with him on his swimming skills all summer. 

Recruits who pass a swim test at the end can apply to be city lifeguards.

If he is selected to be a lifeguard, other pool staff will work with him on his swimming skills all summer.


Come on VOR... That SCREAMS of lowered standards to pass the test..... 

Original story posted in this thread from "The Blaze" aka Glenn Beck.

'Nuff said.

Thanks, AOC. 

Original story from "The Blaze" aka Glenn Beck.

'Nuff said.

Not according to VOR... it was from NPR 

I was a swimmer for 13 yrs and a Lifeguard/Swim Instructor for 9 yrs .. I am not racist but the majority of hispanics and african americans in my swim group took the longest to learn how to swim, and most never passed .. So I think this is really sad that they would put other peoples lives at risk over racism. I think bone density is what causes them to sink faster. Whites and hispanics have almost the same bone density and blacks have the heaviest .. and you can tell the difference in the water when you are holding up a black baby for a good hour .. Your arms will be really sore lol. 

Why Fewer White Kids Drown 

^^^ Agree .. Their fear of swimming is passed down from generation to generation .. Oh and the lack of recreation centers with pools in their area 

"African-Americans say that a lack of access to pools, the expense of swimming lessons and the idea that recreational swimming is a culturally white activity are factors that inhibit them from learning how to swim, according to the study, which was commissioned by the national governing body of competitive swimming USA Swimming and released last month. "

God forbid they be accused of doing something peercieved as "white"......

That can get you killed in some neighborhoods......

May also explain why "African-Americans say that a lack of access to pools" 

Growing up it always seemed to me that my white friends always knew how to swim since they were toddlers. I didn't learn until I was much older and I never became a proficient nor confident swimmer.

My sons were 8 and 6 when I enrolled them at daycamp. One of the activities was daily swimming. Because neither knew how to swim, I made sure that they wore a sort of wetsuit with flotation pads sewn throughout and they were only allowed in the shallow pool. The older one wasn't too thrilled about mom's excessive safety concerns but it was wear the wetsuit or no swimming. Later that day when I came to check on him and his brother during swim time, I found that he had removed the pads. The counselor who was next to him was fixing to get an earful from me when she told me that watch. My kid who that morning didn't know the first thing about swimming was paddling across the pool with a huge grin and incredible enthusiasm. A week or two later, his younger brother followed in his footsteps. Now I have two very proficient and confident swimmers. 

Im telling you .. They really do have a much harder time learning how to swim when they do try .. Their bones are so dense, they sink to the bottom 

They really do have a much harder time learning how to swim when they do try ..

I've heard the same thing from siblings who went through military swim qualifications. 

It always made me feel great teaching the kids and even adults how to swim for the first time .. Swimming is very important since there are so many drownings every year. I encountered individuals who were afraid to put their head under the water and a week later, they were swimming across the pool. It just takes practice and sometimes the proper equipment. 

I think my Husband has heavy bones too .. Bc he has a hard time staying afloat .. He is white but he sinks like a rock LOL. It is all bone density, not skin color. He calls me flipper .. I'm over there doing the butterfly, and he is doggie paddling :) 

Semper.. Yeah I was helping train a african american guy how to swim and he was having the hardest time staying on top of the water .. He was doing everything right but just couldn'tstay afloat. There are some white people too that can't stay on top of the water, my Husband is one of them lol. They teach us all in swimming to stay lean, since muscle sinks. Bulky muscle is bad for swimmers who compete. 

I believe at one time Howard University, historically black college, had a swim requirement for them to graduate. 

Gosh that is mean .. That is like telling a white person they have to do a slam dunk to graduate lol. Although I am all for teaching everyone how to swim .. It's going to be one of the first things I teach my baby girl how to do. It's easier to learn when you are little. 

People should quit being afraid to be called a racist for suggesting that there are physical differences among different. That's not to suggest that a black man cannot be a great swimmer or that a white guy cannot be as good as Michael Jordan. There are always exceptions to every rule. This is a good example where both nature and nurture come into play. 

People should quit being afraid to be called a racist for suggesting that there are physical differences among different races

Oh thank goodness.... I have been DYING to talk about Black penises all day......