Teachers let Harlem sixth graders they knew couldn’t swim wade into the treacherous ocean waters at Long Beach last month — a shocking lapse in judgement that led to the tragic drowning of a 12-year-old girl, investigators found.
Several Columbia Secondary School students told probers that one of the three adults chaperoning the June 22 trip — first-year teacher Erin Bailey — allowed students who couldn’t swim to enter the water as far as thigh-high or waist-deep rather than restrict them to the Long Island beach.
There were no lifeguards present, and a number of signs specifically read “no lifeguard on duty.”
“If you can’t swim, don’t go in the water past your waist; don’t go past the rocks,” one student who spoke to investigators quoted Bailey as saying.
Within minutes of entering the ocean, however, kids were overwhelmed by waves and suddenly panicking to stay afloat or avoid getting slammed into a jetty.
Nicole Suriel, who didn’t know how to swim, disappeared into the ocean for more than an hour after wading into water that reached above her knees and below her waist, according to one student.
Rescuers who later pulled Suriel from the ocean were unable to rescutitate her.
“There was… poor judgment by the teacher in charge, who either failed to realize that there were no lifeguards on duty or failed to recognize the additional danger presented by their absence,” concluded the report by Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon.
Probers also criticized the poor planning by assistant principal Andrew Stillman — who backed out of the trip at the last minute because of other administrative duties — and principal Jose Maldonado-Rivera, who took ultimate responsibility for the trip.
Condon referred any disciplinary action against them and against Bailey to the Department of Education.
DOE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report also provided sad new details about Suriel’s drowning — including the heartbreaking fact that she had almost been saved by as many as three good samaritans.
Probers learned that a bystander who jumped in the water to rescue kids in distress had gotten “a physical hold on Nicole,” but had to give up when the strength of the currents jeopardized his own life.
“[He] grabbed her by the wrist, but then submerged, and resurfaced without her,” one witness told investigators.
A substitute teacher on the trip reportedly didn’t know how to swim, and a 19-year-old school intern — who kids said rescued a number of their drowning classmates — had never been fingerprinted by the Department of Education, as required.
Additionally, probers found that no consent form was given to parents to sign regarding the swimming trip, which the class won for raising the most money in an April walk-a-thon.
Bailey, who students said rescued at least one of their classmates, did not speak with investigators.
She could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office said it “is engaged in a thorough review of the facts and circumstances concerning the tragic death of 12-year-old Nicole Suriel. We have been in contact with investigators from the New York City Department of Investigation and have received Commissioner Condon’s report, the relevant findings of which will be duly considered.”