Swim unit returns to MSJ after nearly a decade

By Staff Writers Leland Yu, Andy Zhang, & Lucas Zhang

After a seven-year hiatus, the PE swim unit at MSJ has made its return this spring, officially reintroducing swimming as a part of the mandatory PE curriculum.

The program was called off in 2017, when PE classes discontinued the use of the pool due to maintenance issues and inadequate facilities. The original pool was too shallow for competitive use, causing potential issues for swimmers and water polo players during practices.

In December 2017, the FUSD Board of Education approved an $8.2 million plan to restructure the pool, scheduled to be completed by late 2018. The opening of the deeper, renovated pool was unveiled at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Mar. 6, 2019, marking the completion of the facility upgrade that was expected to bring the unit back. However, the swim unit was not reintroduced into the PE curriculum due to scheduling and staffing challenges, leaving students dry from aquatic activities for years. 

The new pool was designed with its use for water polo in mind, leaving most of the pool seven feet deep — far too deep for most novice swimmers. For this reason, the MSJ administration and the PE Department worked in unison to find a lifeguard to supervise. “The Red Cross was unable to secure a lifeguard, so we got all the teachers Red Cross certified, which is part of the PE part of the requirements to run a swim unit. [We] told them they need to make it work with two lanes,” Principal Amy Perez said. The two lanes that are being used for this unit are specialized, shallower lanes, allowing them to be used safely with the presence of a certified lifeguard.

The MSJ administration facilitated efforts to bring back the swim unit in part to comply with CA state requirements for PE to administer an aquatics unit for ninth grade students. The administration and the PE Department plan to have the unit return in the following years and look upon it favorably, noting its potential for inclusion and diversity. “It’s a big change up from what they do in PE, and there are some kids that normally don’t get to participate fully in PE, [but] are for swim, so that’s really positive,” Perez said.

However,  some students feel the rollout has been inconsistent. “I was actually kind of shocked, because the PE teachers promised last year that there would not be a swim unit return,” Varsity Swimmer Sophomore Chengry Hsien said. The curriculum itself has also faced criticism. “For people who do not know how to swim, it’s a valuable initiative, but for people who already do, like myself, it’s not because [the teachers] are just teaching us things that we already know how to do,” Freshman Neha Shastry said.

Students have also expressed concerns about the logistics of running sessions in the pool within 52-minute class periods. After accounting for time in the locker room changing clothes and showering, which take about 15 minutes away from the beginning and end of the period, students only have about 20 minutes in the pool for instruction. “That’s less than half [of our PE time] … it’s a little inconvenient because we have limited time to swim, and we also have to shower without wasting time,” Hsien said. 

People who have to travel across campus to the gym have also expressed potential problems with the way the department has organized the unit, specifically pointing to student activities in the locker room. “My fifth period is all the way in the other part of the school. By the time I get here, there is a line in the bathroom to change,” Shastry said.

Despite some critiques, students are excited about learning to swim. “Activities like basketball are good for training yourself, but for swimming if you’re ever stuck in a situation that may demand you to swim, I think it’s a very practical skill to learn,” Sophomore Leina Ikeda said. 

As the program continues to develop, both students and staff will be observing the swim unit’s long term sustainability and student impact. “From what I’m hearing, the kids that are actually swimming really enjoy it,” Perez said.