The swimming pool at Mattapan’s Mildred Avenue Community Center is temporarily closed as city officials probe allegations that residents were forced to pay for swim lessons that are supposed to be offered at no charge.

Residents who use the facility, which is operated by the Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF), who learned of the closure last Wednesday were initially informed that the shut-down was prompted by a shortage of lifeguards and low use.

However, on Friday, a spokesperson for Mayor Wu told the Reporter that those problems were “exacerbated by allegations of improper behavior at this site. BCYF has been informed by community members that swim lesson participants were charged for classes offered by BCYF for free. The city is currently investigating this issue and working to quickly resolve the issues for full access to our pools across the city.”

Some residents have told the Reporter that they were charged $70 for a seven-week swimming course that is supposed to be free of charge. In a statement last week, BCYF officials said that anyone who was charged a fee for swim lessons would be getting a refund.

News of the allegations did not sit well with two elected officials who represent Mattapan.

“The allegations that employees at the Mildred withheld publicly funded swim lessons and charged our community for this free service are troublesome,” said state Rep. Brandy Fluker Oakley. “Because of these allegations, our community has been deprived of both access to a summer family activity, and to a potentially life-saving skill. This is heartbreaking and Boston needs to right this wrong quickly.” 

City Councillor Brian Worrell said he was concerned about equity in the decision-making to close the pool at Mildred Avenue, especially considering the increasing numbers of accidental drownings.

“Last year, we saw a record number of accidental drownings in Boston and its surrounding communities,” he said. “We should be expanding free swimming lessons for kids, not closing down pools - especially in the heart of Black and Brown communities.”

Each BCYF community center is operated by a resident council that is tasked with raising money to pay for programming within the center, including at the pool.

Sources have told the Reporter that the fees could have been collected to pay for equipment and supplies if fundraising wasn’t adequate at the Mildred Avenue site. If that is the case, it wasn’t clear by press time, and many leaders in the community wanted answers as to what exactly was going on at the Mildred Avenue Pool.

“My understanding is that this decision was based on pool usage numbers and did not focus on equity, which is not acceptable, particularly in 2022 in the city of Boston and as the Mattapan community recovers from the devastating effects of Covid,” said Fluker-Oakley. “I hope that we can continue this staple program through efforts such as recruiting high school students and offering signing bonuses.”

A city spokesperson last weekend noted that the pool was closed in part due to the lifeguard shortage, and that the situation was no different than labor shortages encountered in many industries right now. The spokesperson said the city will be conducting mass hiring events for lifeguards to help re-open pools and be prepared for the upcoming outdoor pool season.

City Councillor Erin Murphy said the studies shown to her indicated that ther Mildred Avenue pool had 50 or less users per day, while many other sites had more than 100. Meanwhile, she said, the lifeguard shortage is a real problem, hampered by hiring rules and full-time guards who want to be transferred to other locations – particularly locations not attached to a school.

When pools are attached to a school, programming can only occur outside of school hours – resulting in less desirable working hours for lifeguards. Murphy said that one of the main reasons for the Mildred Avenue closure was that a lifeguard there had been granted a transfer to a pool with better working hours – leaving a shortage at Mildred Avenue.

Murphy said she found there were 25 permanent openings for lifeguard positions in the city and there will need to be more than 64 seasonal guards brought for the summer months.

She also noted that the Condon Pool in South Boston, which is also attached to a school, was closed in November, and still hasn’t re-opened. She said she’s worried that the closings might expand to other pool facilities.

“Definitely it’s a staffing shortage when half of 70 permanent positions are consistently open,” she said. “That would be hard for any organization…I think it’s going to continue to snowball. I think they’re trying to be creative right now.”

The closure and the investigation remain fluid this week, and a city spokesman said there were no new updates as of Tuesday.