Tentative schedule for new NHPS swim program. Starting as soon as Oct. 6, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) plans to offer free swim lessons for third graders thanks to a grant recently secured by the district’s athletics director, Erik Patchkofsky. Patchkofsky presented that plan and an ass ociated no-cost agreement to the Board of Education’s Finance Operations Committee (FO) on Monday during the committee’s latest Zoom meeting. The proposed agreement is with Asphalt Green, which will provide a $250,595 grant to NHPS to build out this new swimming program in collaboration with the city’s Youth and Recreation Department and the local nonprofit Leadership, Education, and Athletics in Partnership (LEAP). The new program will offer afterschool swim lessons for students without prior swimming instruction, Patchofsky told the committee. Asphalt Green is a New York nonprofit that operates a “Wave Makers” initiative that provides free swimming lessons to second graders across New York City. The Asphalt Green grant to NHPS will be for the 2026–27 school year.  Patchofsky also told the committee that this past spring, the district’s superintendent tasked him with implementing a program to teach NHPS students to swim. He said his team decided third graders would be best to start with. When an initial funding source for the program fell through, Patchofsky and city Youth Rec Deputy Director of Operations Recreation Felicia Shashinka connected with Asphalt Green to secure new money. “What we will be doing is offering all third-grade families an opportunity to have their students have free basic swim lessons,” Patchkofsky said. If they want to continue after this year’s lessons, those students would be encouraged to continue building up their swim skills through more advanced lessons with LEAP. The $250,595 grant will be used to pay for lifeguards, a transportation coordinator, and transportation to get third graders to the district’s pools. The program will provide 12 one-hour group swimming lessons to third-grade students from the districts elementary/middle schools with a focus on water safety and basic swimming skills. Board of Education member Andrea Downer spoke up in support of the initiative and praised the thoughtfulness of the endeavor. She said it will meet a real need for New Haveners. “Bringing forth a program like this directly supports our student’s safety, equity and opportunity,” she said. Patchkofsky said that the goal is for the program to make use of four of the school district’s five pools. Currently, only three NHPS pools — at James Hillhouse High School, Hill Regional Career High School, and John Martinez Sea Sky STEM — are operational. The school district is still working on getting the pool at Conte West Hills Magnet School back online. “We are working on contingency plans to either shorten the amount of lessons or extend them to later into the year or whatever we need to do to get as many kids lessons as possible,” Patchkofsky said. Patchkofsky’s team plans to make modifications to the schedule that has been provided to Board of Education members as needed once families sign up. Read the full proposed agreement below. AsphaltGreenGrantAwardDownload The post NHPS Eyes Free Swim Lessons For Third Graders appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less