NYC leaders demand more lifeguards, swimming instruction after two teens drown in Rockaways

New York City must hire more lifeguards and do more to teach kids to swim, local leaders said Tuesday, days after two teens drowned while trying to beat the heat in the waters off the Rockaways.

“We’re an oceanfront city, 9 million people. Under no circumstances should we be struggling to hire lifeguards,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. “Enough of the back and forth. This is about saving lives.”

The urgent plea followed the recovery of two bodies believed to be those of two swimmers who disappeared in the water off Jacob Riis Park on June 21, the first full day of summer.

One body was already identified as Elyjha Chandler, 16, and authorities believe the other body is likely that of Christian Perkins, 17.

The two teens went into the water that evening and never returned, officials said. Elyjha’s relatives said there were no lifeguards on the beach at the time.

Richards said the deaths were a preventable tragedy that should spark having more lifeguards on duty, especially on hot days.

“We lost two or three years to COVID,” Richards said of the lifeguard shortage. “We already were down in lifeguard coverage. Each year we would fight to ensure the whole peninsula was covered and we could never get all of the coverage we wanted because of the challenges around having enough lifeguards.”

Richards said he did not want to see standards lowered, but he argued something has to give

“You always want to be careful when you’re loosening qualifications,,” he said. “But there were some things negotiated that would make the lifeguard test more standard with what we see around the country. That was good news that came out of negotiations with the Parks Department and the union this year, which will hopefully help us really see that number increase.”

It would help, too, if more kids knew how to swim, said the BP.

“The most important thing is access and opportunity,” Richard said at a news conference along the Rockaway Beach Boardwalk.

“If you ask kids here if they know how to swim, and they live in a waterfront community, a large percentage of them will say they do not know how to swim. Part of that is because of the lack of access.”

He said the city should make a real commitment to teaching children to swim.

“It should be in the city’s interest to ensure that every child — especially with schools that have pools — actually are learning how to swim,” Richards said. “It should be a requirement. Every school has a physical ed teacher, or should, or they have several. These are individuals who can also be helpful in this conversation.”

Richards also touched briefly on climate change and the impact that is having on beach safety.

Dolores Orr, the chairwoman of Queens Community Board 14, said local residents have been calling on the Education Department to make swimming a requirement.

“When I went to high school you could not graduate unless you could swim,” she said. “The community board has been asking for a number of years to reinstate that. It has not happened. We need to get every child that has access to a pool in.”