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Parent asks district to require water‑safety tutorials after two drownings; superintendent says district will pursue coordinated outreach
Summary
A parent urged Racine Unified to use online water‑safety videos and homework slips after two teenage drownings; the superintendent said the district has discussed the idea with the fire department and city leaders and will work to develop age‑appropriate materials for districtwide instruction before next summer.
A Racine Unified parent told the board Monday that the district should require students to watch water-safety tutorials after two recent drownings near the lakefront and asked the district to send signed homework slips to confirm parent review.
"These children, just 15 and 12, obviously didn't understand the dangers of our lake," said Lisa Beaudoin, who urged the district to use existing online resources and to assign them as required homework with parent sign-off. Beaudoin said the Racine Fire Department already hosts some suitable material on a site called STEM101 and that small adjustments could make the videos appropriate for all grade levels.
Superintendent Gajewski responded that the district had already discussed the issue with the fire department and city leaders. "Being a lakefront community, the water is a big part of our life," he said, and the district is "looking at putting together some type of [video] communications where all kids, while they're in school, get these...warnings or how to behave around water," targeting late winter or early spring so materials are in place before the warm season. He also said he had spoken with Mayor Mason and Tom Wohlbeck in parks and recreation to coordinate a community-wide effort.
Beaudoin and board members also noted a request to the Racine Common Council for no‑swim signage at Carrie Hogle Beach Park; the speaker said she had been told the city would install signage by the month following the council discussion. The board did not take formal action on the matter during the meeting but directed staff to coordinate with city and fire department partners on educational outreach.
