15-year-old Ben Curry drowned during a school swimming lesson at San Ramon Valley High School’s pool in California back in May of this year and the student’s parents are now suing the School District as well as the teacher at the scene, Aaron Becker.
Curry was one of 57 students in the water under the supervision of Becker on May 8th. Becker reportedly told the class to ‘tread water for 3 minutes’ and also warned them that he would add time should they touch the lane line, which Curry reportedly did. Per The Sun, Curry wound up slipping under the water after treading for 3 ½ minutes and wasn’t discovered even after students were dismissed from the pool.
Per the lawsuit, “He [Becker] then left the pool area without taking roll at the end of class, with Benjamin under the water, and Benjamin’s clothing and cell phone alongside the pool.”
It wasn’t until the next class entered the area under a different supervisor that the teen’s body was discovered.
The parents’ suit also alleges that CCTV footage shows Becker was distracted by his cell phone and not watching the kids.
‘I’ve learned from reviewing the video and having it enhanced that it appears that the instructor was looking at his cell phone while standing on a diving board, when he should’ve been supervising the children,’ said Andy Shwartz, Curry’s attorney. (The Sun)
This is the 2nd high school drowning death we’ve reported this month, as 14-year-old swimmer Julian Urbina died after being pulled from the pool unconscious during a Thornton Fractional South High School practice in Illinois last Wednesday, November 14th.
Urbina was reportedly engaged in ‘conditioning’ exercises with the T.F. South Swim Team when he went underwater at the deep end of the pool and failed to surface.
I come from a climate that is hot. We have an outdoor school pool, the PE teachers that watched over us as we swam, may or may not have been certified lifeguards, but I do remember that we had actual lifeguards, two maybe even three on site. Shouldn’t all pools have lifeguards?
Knowing the family let me fill in some details about the victim Ben Curry. He did take early swim classes for 3 summers like my kids also. I know the family vacationed in the Bahamas and Hawaii and swam during the vacations. He was a decent swimmer with trips to the community pool and pool parties all growing up. He always qualified as a swimmer during the swim test before going into community pools when he was little.
Ben was a year around basketball player starting around 6th grade. Playing on an AAU team and on the freshman basketball team for the high school. He was slim and mostly muscle with I would guess less the 7 % body… Read more »
This is so tragic! I’m generally not a fan of our litigious society, but this boy’s parents are right to demand accountability for this completely avoidable loss of their son. There is no compensation but hopefully their suit can bring about change and prevent future tragedies. It breaks my heart!
Thanks for posting more info, this is all really sad. Especially since it seems like the school district is trying to let it all blow over. I mentioned before about how I’ve observed PE classes like this, I’ve also observed football coaches with no swimming backgrounds bring large groups of kids into the water to complete in “conditioning” drills.
I’m not sure if firing the teacher/coach will solve anything, but he does deserve to be fired. I’d be demanding for each PE teacher to be certified as water instructors, and for there to be a no tolerance policy on letting that many kids in the pool with only one supervisor
Thank you for the insight into exactly what happened that day. There is now no doubt in my mind that Ben Curry never should have drowned, and that the school/instructors unfortunate ignorance was actively putting thousands of children in immediate danger.
Upvoted, signed the petition, donated to the cause, and shared on social media. I want not only justice for Ben Curry, but to open the eyes of as many people as possible. People who might be unknowingly putting people in dangerous situations at this very moment.
Per the discussion above, if the PE teacher was not required to have lifeguard certification, how come there were no lifeguards on duty? If true, this is first rate negligence by the school district.
Where was a designated lifeguard – even at College level practices where they have up to 5 coaches on pool deck nobody enters the water until the lifeguard takes up their position on an elevated chair?
Laws are different in different states. If the PE teacher was a certified lifeguard then he could have been the only one legally needed.
Apparently in CA (with so many laws to govern everyone’s life) there are no laws requiring lifeguards at HS pools
True story: One of the first questions I ask the younger swimmers on my swim team: “Are you allowed to grab a lane line?” The kids usually say “no.” Then I teach them that when we are doing something hard, like swim team, we might get into a bit of trouble (like coughing from inhaling water), and it is PERFECTLY OK TO GRAB A LANE LINE. “Grabbing a lane line let’s the people watching you know you are having trouble,” I explain. It might be the most important talk I ever have with them. I do it ever year. Tell your kids to go ahead and grab a land line if they need too. Coach Cynthia says it’s ok and… Read more »
This is why PARENTS need to make sure their kids learn to swim. While there might be some negligence by the school for having such a huge class and no life guard, and by the teacher for failing to monitor the students adequately, the parents are ultimately responsible for making sure the kid has basic survival skills. I will not rely on someone else to teach my kids how to swim, cook, drive, etc. because they are MY responsibility.
Sorry I had to downvote that. It’s obviously good parenting for parents to be responsible for making sure their kids know how to swim. But in this situation you can’t blame the parents. Schools should know, especially with large classes, that some kids are going to be weak swimmers and not know how to swim. It’s so dangerous to have someone with just a teaching credential be in charge of a large swimming class. Swimming is by far the most dangerous PE activity in high school for novice athletes to participate in.
I’m close to the San Ramon area, I’m a coach, I’ve been on deck observing these PE classes at several different high schools in Northern CA. The… Read more »
Don’t be sorry, it is open discourse on an important topic. I’m glad you agree that it is good parenting to make sure your kids know how to swim. The undeniable corollary is, it is not good parenting to fail to make sure your kids know how to swim. The parents share fault in their child’s drowning death because, but for their failure to make sure he knew how to swim, he would not have drowned, regardless of whether it happened at school or the beach or lake or anywhere else.
Please understand I am not saying the school and teacher are blameless–it sounds like a foreseeable and ridiculously dangerous situation on a number of fronts. Having unqualified and… Read more »
With your reasoning their would never need to be life guards at swim events. Because the pool is filled with the best of the best in swimming skills. Which we all know would have resulted in countless deaths. Because of all the things that can cause a swimmer to have a problem in the water besides not not knowing how to swim. Water polo players have been found the next day after a practice at the bottom of the pool. During a swim competition a finisher realizing a competitor is sinking to the bottom performs a rescue. Parents have returned home to find their competitive swimmer at the bottom of the home pool. So your logic is not logical and… Read more »
Is there some indication that the child had not been taught to swim? Many people who drown know how to swim.
Perhaps you are the ultra-super-mega-alpha parent you are describing, however, I find it hard to fathom you have the required super powers to be able to guide every step of a child’s life.
I recall a quote I’ve heard in the past that goes something like, “The day you believe you know everything is the day that you admit you know nothing”. Are you claiming that there is no possibility that someone is more qualified to teach your children than you? Or are you just saying that if your child were to (strictly hypothetical) drown, get food poisoning, get in a car collision, etc. you WANT it to be your fault in the eyes of the entire world?
That’s… Read more »
Justin–you missed the point entirely, and inserted a lot of hyperbole. And. Sentence. Fragments. Taking responsibility for your child’s basic survival skills does not require super powers, it only requires recognition and effort. Ask yourself, will my child be in a danger if he falls into deep water? If the answer is yes, perhaps making sure the kid knows how to swim is a reasonable step? Maybe you disagree…
You can’t bubble wrap the world for your children, but you can make an effort to teach them enough skills to be safe. And, yes, if my child were to drown and I had not made sure they learned how to swim, I would expect the world to say, “that… Read more »
Yes, I enjoy sentence fragments and hyperbole. I like to spice up my writing with poor grammar and occasionally sarcastic comments. I am a just a millennial after all.
To address your rhetorical question, a big. fat. YUP. In case you didn’t know, people who are fantastic swimmers are STILL capable of drowning. “Per The Sun, Curry wound up slipping under the water after treading for 3 ½ minutes and wasn’t discovered even after students were dismissed from the pool.” If someone can tread water for three minutes, they’ll PROBABLY be just fine falling into deep water. Bye bye with that example.
To address the rest, maybe you missed my point (I guess I should lay off the figures… Read more »
I am shocked so many people downvote the idea of people taking responsibility for teaching their kids to swim. Maybe this boy would still be alive had his parents done so. Whether the school and teacher were negligent (sounds like they both probably were) is beside the point. My point is that parents need to take responsibility for raising their kids instead of relying on the metaphorical village to do the job. The reason is that you can’t always trust the villagers.
Swimming is a basic survival skill, and this kid’s lack of that basic survival skill is exactly what did him in. Sad, but true. The school’s and teacher’s conduct played a role, but I’m not willing to… Read more »
You have no idea what caused the boy to drown. If every drowning was caused by not knowing how to swim why are life guards at the Olympics.
I think we are more on the same page than we originally thought. You make solid points and provide reasonable rationale in many places. I know I haven’t mentioned it yet, but I agree with the majority of your points. I do believe that parents should have a large degree of responsibility for their children’s development. You are certainly not the minority in that sense.
That being said, I’m still confused on when/where you got any indication of parental negligence. Now, I’m not saying you can’t possibly be right, I’m still just wondering how you found enough information to make such claims.
The flaw in your argument doesn’t come from the overall logic, it comes from the initial… Read more »
I agree parents who have the resources to do so should absolutely make sure their kids know how to swim. However this tragedy Can not be blamed on the parents.
1) this was gross negligence by the school district and teacher.
2) Being a strong swimmer does not make you immune from drowning. As many have pointed out, there are lifeguards at the olmpyic pool. I have low blood pressure and despite being a competitor swimmer for years there were a few times I had to get out of the wate during practice because I was afraid I would faint. You can be an excellent swimmer and can still have terrible accidents in the water.
3) I… Read more »
yikes. -26 at the time of this post. that’s what you get for merely suggesting accountability from parents in this day and age
I believe it was also reported that the coach did not have current life guard certification
No required for a PE teacher doing a school pool portion. It’s one of the issues I have with CA Schools because they allow PE to do this but no requirement for teachers to have lifeguard or water safety training.
Why are there no lifeguards in CA?? My Daughter (an excellent lifeguard) traveled to San Jose to compete in water polo Junior Olympics. A teammate got a head injury with 100s of competitors, coaches, and spectators around. SHE took control and backboarded this girl and handed her off to the paramedics. ZERO lifeguards were there for this HUGE Water Polo competition. WTF CA. get it together. I live in GA and even the most trivial swim meet has MULTIPLE lifeguards focused on the safety of all in the water.
School/school district should be held responsible. This is not an abnormal thing that happens at Northern California schools. I’ve seen this too much with PE teachers with no swimming background in charge of extremely large groups of kids while not properly supervising them. The teachers need to be certified in swim safety or not be allowed to keep swimming in their curriculum. There also need to be rules in place for a proper student to teacher ratio… 57 is completely ridiculous. This was not an accident, it’s full on neglect by the school for allowing this to happen.
This is a school problem that needs to be addressed and unfortunately people are going to have to lose their lives and… Read more »