BCYF beach safety concerns amid budget proposal
Boston Centers for Youth and Families is looking to add two extra lifeguards to its network of pools this year, but isn’t adding guards to the beach where a 7-yearold child drowned last year, and a swimming safety advocate said he wants to see more from the city.
“It’s not even close to enough action,” said Derek Frechette, whose son’s death by drowning at a Sturbridge day camp in 2007 led to the passage of new safety regulations known as Christian’s Law. “I just pray, honestly, that they follow the law this year and another innocent child doesn’t die due to others’ negligence.”
Last year, 7-year-old Kyzr Willis drowned off the beach at the Curley Community Center, which is operated by the city’s Boston Centers for Youth and Families. Kyzr’s brother reported him missing 15 minutes after he was last seen by staffers, drawing criticism that the center had lost track of a child.
BCYF Commissioner William Morales alluded to Kyzr’s death while describing his proposed $25.5 million budget to city councilors yesterday.
“We’ll never forget the dark days we faced last summer, we’d be remiss not to acknowledge that time,” Morales said.
BCYF operates 19 swimming pools as well as the beach, and hires about 60 lifeguards every year. This year’s budget calls for adding two “floating” lifeguards that would fill in at pools when other lifeguards are out, reducing overtime costs and keeping pools open, Morales said.
But those lifeguards would not have the same certifications as the nine beach lifeguards and could not fill in for any absences. Officials said the beach would be closed if there were not enough lifeguards.
After Kyzr’s death, Mayor Martin J. Walsh ordered new BCYF guidelines, including performing head counts every hour, requiring children to wear life preservers in the water and maintaining staff ratios of two staffers per 10 children 6 and under and two staffers per 20 children 7 and up. Guidelines for staffing this year call for one teen staffer and one adult staffer per 10 children. And officials said BCYF follows guidelines set out in Christian’s Law that require life preservers and call for all children to take a swim test at the start of their time at the centers to determine their ability.