Report: NYC Second-Graders in Swimming Program Changed in Same Locker Room as Naked Adults

Parents of Sunset Park School students are stunned after learning that second-graders participating in swimming lessons at a Manhattan fitness center have shared a locker room with the club’s sometimes-naked adult members, according to a report.

An NY Post article alleges that club members, as well as teachers, were in the locker room where they saw the children naked and vice versa.

Eujin Tang, principal of the Brooklyn-based public school, allegedly praised the weekly lessons that take place at Asphalt Green in Battery Park City in a June letter to parents.

Tang allegedly told the parents they could not opt their students out of the program, according to NY Post’s source. However, the article says, in an about-face Tang later said the swimming lessons were not mandatory. 

“Swim lessons save lives, and this program helps ensure children, regardless of background, have access to them,” the city’s DOE said in a statement to News 4. “Families, students and teachers have expressed their love for this program, and the principal has addressed any concerns to ensure all second graders have access to this opportunity.”

Asphalt Green offers the “Waterproofing” program to children in public schools, according to the NY Post.

“Over the past 25 years, Asphalt Green’s Waterproofing program has provided free and low-cost weekly swimming lessons to tens of thousands of public school students, in an environment that is safe, educational, and fun,” an organization spokesman told the publication. 

The organization said it offered the use of private family changing rooms to allay any concerns, the article says.

News 4 New York reached out to Asphalt Green for comment, but did not immediately hear back.