High School Scuba Diving Program

[trtldvr]

I teach diving at the community college here in Key West. We offer a duel enrolement class with the local high school. It is marine science honors. the students earn 2 college credits. The students earn a NAUI ow cert the fisrt marking period. and then do some reef surverys thrughout the rest of the school year. Since the class is a honors science class the accademics are taught at the divemaster level.
I realize not every area is blessed with tropical waters and a reef in the schools backyard,but hooking up with a local college that teaches scuba may work for many highschools

 

[TheHobster]

I seriously don't see it becoming an official course listed as an elective at most high schools, for many reasons.
Pool access -- how many high schools have their own pool to do training?
Liability -- if little Johnny gets hurt, even if it was completely his fault, who are his parents going to sue?
$$ -- Scuba is expensive, especially starting out. They'd have to buy a compressor, tanks, BCs, regs, etc...that's possibly tens of thousands of dollars that the school board would say to use elsewhere.

Sparticle, dude, you need to get out more often; you need to look at high schools these days - the vast majority have them here in the Midwest; some excellent facilities better than 2 of the colleges I worked at - in many cases the Aquatics Director wants the SCUBA in the program as he/she wants facility usage numbers to be high; the problem is having an instructor available during school hours to conduct it; also, teaching licensure could be a difficult obstacle in some states

However, what we are working on is having the Aquatics class do a Discover SCUBA, for $25, then if they sign up for an after school class, apply the $25 to class - another thing we have done is the Marine Biology club (many schools have clubs that teachers are the advisors for) had a class a few years ago; we did that class from 3:30-7:30 one day a week; but was done in April between swim seasons

The school does not need gear as a shop would provide as a part of a course fee, with the exception of mask, fins and snorkel; or have a "lab fee" of $50 and provide same and keep using them for the next class etc - the partnership between school and store would be best if it can be arranged -

However, expenses will still rear their ugly head - many parents don't want to plunk down the money for class, gear and travel when they have the $15,000/year college bills so close

 

[TheHobster]

I moved to Catalina Island back in the late 60's to teach marine biology on SCUBA at a private high school. The program ran until the school closed in 1979. There were two different SCUBA "clubs" at the school... one for beginning divers and one for advanced divers. Many of my students from back then are still divers even in middle age (where does that put me?).

Agree with Scuba-Jay that many public high schools may be very leery due to liability issues. Our public high school on Catalina has no SCUBA program. In fact, very few of the local kids dive. Go figure!

Dr Bill, I understand that Orange Coast College where I learned from Ted Bandaruk in the early 70's has discontinued it's program a while ago?

Didn't realize there were enough year round residents on Catalina to have an HS - thats awesome!! that has to be a wonderful experience living there for those youngsters; buffalo, diving, the whole shebang of that island - and I thought one of our swimmers living on a houseboat in Newport was cool!

 

[dmdoss]

Well the school im talking about is my old high school, they have a indoor pool. I just thought that this would be a great course for the kids going there today. Any advise on where to start??

 

[Goatfish face]

I have a LDS and we teach scuba in 3 local high schools as part of a marine studies course. We teach because the schools dont have the facilities or the instructors.
We run a group discount for the o/w course which is paid by the students. One school does fund raising to cover this.

My first advise would be to talk to the LDS in your area and the schools. Co-operation between the two is a big bonus.

 

[mikiedfd17]

does any one know how most of these public school programs are funded? I just cant see any of the public districs paying for them?

In regards to New Trier and Glenbrook North High School being able to have scuba diving, it's because those schools have the money. Illinois education is funded horribly (as an educator in Illionis). It is funded mostly on your local taxes. New Trier and Glenbrook North are in the right spots of the Chicago area to juts totlaly reap the benefits. The result; a per-capita spending of an incredible amount of money!

I'm not knocking either school - I think they are fantastic schools and I absolutely LOVE visiting the facilities. . I wish I could have the Glenbrook North Pool (talk about a gorgeous facility). I almost think you could call a dive in there a REAL dive! And I'm not just sucking up because I work over at Maine West High School.

The true reality is however, those schools have more money to spend on their students to bring great programs to their school. It's just sad that the ways politicians are, they dont do more for sports like scuba in school. That and legal issues I totally see.

 

[boulderjohn]

As some have observed, money is a major consideration.

In this area of Colorado, there is a wealthy school distruct that has pools in every school. I suppose there are others with pools, but I don't know them. I know the school disctrict in which I worked has none in any of its 23 high schools, and the school district in which I live does not have pools in any of its 5 high schools.

There is also a general assumption in public education that if you are offering a course, the student does not pay for it--the funding is "public." There are exceptions depending upon where you live and the local laws. Some places allow you to charge fees in courses where there are special costs, but they cannot be excessive.

Notice that the Alameda H.S. teacher (in my old district) mentioned earlier has a scuba "club," not a class. A club is populated with students who participate voluntarily, paying all costs associated with it. They can get certified and have lots of fun, but they will not get school credit for a club activity.

I have long thought of a high school class that would go far beyond basic certification. I would include instruction in math, physics, physiology, oceanography, etc.--all related to scuba. I would love to have a full year course that combined all that stuff and got students all the way to rescue diver.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Sparticle, dude, you need to get out more often

I suppose it doesn't matter that I just got out of high school <4 years ago, hm? :mooner:
It depends on where you are in the country. No high school in the area where I was had pools at the school. It would have been a major undertaking to provide a scuba course during school hours at my high school.

 

[boulderjohn]

Here is another economic point related to schools.

If you look at the Alameda club's site, you will see that it looks like they have averaged 10 certifications a year. Unless you are in a wealthy school district (and that is not a wealthy school district, and the Alameda area is not a wealthy section of it by any means), you cannot afford to pay a teacher to teach a class for ten students a year. The average class size in a school is more like 25. You only have so many teachers in a school. The last time I checked, that school district allowed 42.5 teachers for every 1,000 students. The principal has to divide the teaching staff among the various courses offered in a way that makes sense. Assigning a teacher to a class with 10 students requires a balancing act--other classes are gong to have to have more students. If you have a lot of small, special interest classes, you end up balancing that with 40 students per math class, and the math teachers will not be amused.

One solution would be along the lines of one described in another post, where the class is an option for students in another class, with some kind of an arrangement with a LDS.

By the way, that is why many smaller schools cannot offer special advanced classes, like AP Chemistry or AP Physics. They do not have enough students per year who are interested in the class to make it economically feasible to offer it.

 

[mikerault]

I doubt the liability for a scuba class would run more than for a football or basketball program...after all for the most part the other participants aren't trying to knock you down and take your equipment...


Mike