From school to pool: no pool in the school? No? problem. Here's how some communities and programs are bringing kids to the local aquatics facilities.(FIELD REPORT: Working with School)

Naturally, having a pool on campus is an added bonus when you're trying to introduce aquatics to the curriculum. However, a number of successful communities and programs serve as testimony that it is also possible to bring the kids to the local pool. For these savvy operators, such an arrangement meets the community's learn-to-swim needs, funnels new patrons to facilities--and ultimately saves lives.

Broward County Fla., is a good example. Its SWIM Central program was started in response to the area's high drowning accident rates.

"We did an independent study on drowning prevention in Broward County. We were losing an average of 11 to 15 kids between the ages of 3 to 7 every year," says Matthew Berman, director of SWIM Central. Parents of drowned children testified in front of committees. Berman says they "went at it full force [against] the political machine." In the end, he says drowning prevention was a "no-brainer."

Started in 1999 with just $82,000, the program today boasts a $1 million annual budget. It buses students in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade from more than 100 elementary schools to local pools for 10 free lessons. Originally, SWIM Central was funded by the Broward County Commission's reserves. After its success, the program moved from grant funding to government funding by the county, the school board and an independent special taxing district.

Here's how the program works: Coordinators contact school principals and hammer out scheduling with local pools. SWIM Central pays bus drivers to take kids from the school to the facility and back. It also pays for each child's lessons, which include a pre-test and post-test to track the quality of instruction. The lessons are given back to back for two straight weeks because "kids forget very easily," he says. "Day one, a lot of kids are crying. By day three or four, there's a trust factor."

During the school year, the program serves more than 17,000 children. Berman hopes that after the children take their two-week class, their parents will enroll them in the lessons at city pools. Kids take home information regarding drowning statistics and where parents can sign them up for lessons at the county's 64 public pools.

The city of New York used a different incentive to put schoolchildren into pools: combating obesity. The New York Department of Parks & Recreation recently teamed up with the city's Department of Education to bring swimming to its elementary school students. Youngsters aged 8 to 12 are bused to city pools from one to five days a week for a 45-minute in-water session.