Eugene Brooks Intermediate School students are swimming in the Maplebrook School’s indoor pool as part of their physical education class for a second year.

Fourth graders, fifth graders and students of special education teacher Collin Johnson have had the opportunity to swim at Maplebrook as part of a two-week unit in their physical education class at Webutuck.

“I like swimming; it’s really fun and I haven’t gone swimming in a long time,” said fourth grader Alana Diaz. “I’d like to say thank you for this. I hope I can do this in fifth and sixth grade.”

District physical education teachers Kathleen Howard and Christopher Osterman are leading the instruction at Maplebrook, which hosted Webutuck’s summer programs in 2024 while work was being done at the Webutuck campus. Four Webutuck High School students are rotating as lifeguards.

“I think they’re enjoying it a ton,” said Osterman. “I think it’s a great experience for them. They are learning and/or sharpening their swimming skills.”

Howard added, “I think it’s a really good opportunity for kids that may not have an area to swim to just get swimming experience.”

Webutuck started this swimming unit in 2024 after Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced NY SWIMS, which stands for New York Statewide Investment in More Swimming, to promote swim safety. A lifeguard shortage and increased availability to swim lessons were among the items addressed in NY SWIMS.

In 2020, there were an all-time high 242 fatal drownings reported in New York State. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there are an estimated 4,000 fatal unintentional drownings each year in the United States with drowning being the leading cause of deaths in children ages one to four and the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for children ages five to 14 behind motor vehicle crashes.