Parents seeks Seaford swim team

A week after community members made a push for the creation of a bowling team, parents asked the Seaford Board of Education to look into adding swimming, which led to a back and forth discussion at the March 3 meeting.

Kristin and Robert Glaser said they would like to see the sport added in the future. They suggested a combined team with the neighboring Wantagh School District. However, Superintendent Brian Conboy said that Wantagh is not interested. He said that the athletic directors of both districts spoke, and he also had a meeting with Wantagh’s superintendent. He said their concerns are the high costs that come with running a swim team.

Kristin Glaser said that news was surprising to her, as she had heard that Wantagh would be interesting in partnering with Seaford, and that a combined team would allow each district to split costs. She noted there are several other districts throughout Nassau County, such as Roslyn and Port Washington, which have combined swim teams.

“We are getting mixed signals,” Robert Glaser said, adding that every school from Freeport through Massapequa has a swim team but Seaford.

“There’s a lot of teams that we don’t have,” Conboy said.

Glaser responded, “Just because you don’t have something is not a reason not to start something.” He added that St. William the Abbot Church has a CYO swimming program, which shows there is an interest in the sport in the community, and it would be a natural feeder program for a high school swim team.

The superintendent explained that due to Title IX regulations, Seaford would have to add both girls and boys teams if it added swimming.

Board of Education President Bruce Kahn said that adding a swim team for the 2016-17 school year would be unrealistic, but he asked administrators to look into the potential costs to have a Seaford swim team.

Kahn said the district also began looking into parent Maureen Mele’s request for a bowling team. He said that costs are still being analyzed, and the district’s attorney has confirmed that parents are allowed to provide transportation to and from practices and matches.

While Mele said that she has a volunteer coach lined up, Kahn said that based upon the United Teachers of Seaford contract, the coaching opportunity would first have to be offered to a district teacher.

“We’re looking into it,” Kahn said of adding the team. “It’s not going to be a quick answer.”