Program limits participation

Elia Powers

It had become an annual rite of passage -- Costa Mesa families

camping out near the beach before dawn and waiting in line for hours

to register for the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard program.

But this spring, many of those interested in the seven-week summer

session are getting shut out. For the first time ever, the allotted

1,200 slots were filled during priority registration for Newport

Beach residents.

“A lot more participants from Newport Coast and, to a lesser

degree, Santa Ana Heights signed up this year than in the past,” said

Newport Beach Fire Chief Tim Riley, whose department has jurisdiction

over the Junior Lifeguard program. “That probably put us over the

top.”

The summer seminar teaches participants ages 9 to 15 about

ocean-safety practices, including first aid and a range of rescue

techniques. From June 27 to Aug. 16, the Junior Lifeguards will take

up an entire city block near the Balboa Pier during morning and

afternoon sessions, each comprising 600 participants and 35 staff

members.

Riley said when the program began, the Newport Beach City Council

gave clear orders that its residents should have the first

opportunity to register. The program costs $495 for Newport Beach

residents and $575 for nonresidents.

Anywhere from 100 to 200 nonresidents are normally allowed into

the program before registration closes, according to Riley.

“This is the first time we are turning people away to the degree

that we have,” he said. “We’re a victim of our success.”

Costa Mesa resident Dana Cook sees the registration process as a

failure. When she called the Junior Lifeguard hotline last week, a

recorded message notified her that no space remained in the program.

That was two days before her son, 12-year-old Dylan Cook, and

hundreds of non-Newport Beach residents would have waited in line to

sign up.

“There were a lot of disgruntled people in line last year, and we

just barely made it into the program,” Dana Cook said. “I don’t think

it’s fair how they do it now. Our kids go to the Newport schools and

live within walking distance of the beach.”

Each participant who seeks entry into the program must pass a swim

test administered in February and show up in person at the Junior

Lifeguard trailer to register.

Cook said she would like to see a system that rewards returning

participants like Dylan.

That would help Devon Brannick, a sixth-grade student at Kaiser

Elementary School in Costa Mesa who participated in the program each

of the last three years but was left out this summer.

She said at least 50 of her classmates learned last week that they

wouldn’t be allowed to register.

“When we found out, a whole bunch of my friends were crying,”

Devon said. “I like spending time there, and I want to be a

lifeguard. I want to do the program as many years as I can.”

Riley said 1,200 participants are all the program can safely

accept.

“It’s unfortunate for those who didn’t get in,” he said. “I wish

everyone in the county could experience the program. But we won’t

throw a few hundred more people in without ensuring they will have

proper supervision.”

Dylan said he didn’t understand why program officials allow

hopeful participants to take their swim tests if they are going to be

shut out before the end of registration.

Riley said those in charge of the Junior Lifeguard program will

revisit the registration process after the summer and discuss ways to

accommodate more participants in future years.

Dana Cook said one way the program can ensure a fair process is to

crack down on parents who cheat the system.

According to Cook, some families use secondary Newport Beach

addresses or put down a relative’s address to secure a spot in the

priority registration.

“I’m thinking of doing it next year, and that’s wrong,” Cook said.

Riley said he has never heard complaints about a person putting

down a false residency. He said participants are required to show

three forms of identification that match their home address.

“If people are forging documents, they have to really go out of

their way to get their children into the program,” he said. “If

that’s what’s happening, it’s a sad state of affairs.”

Both Dylan Cook and Devon Brannick are planning to apply to a

Huntington Beach young lifeguard program that holds a lottery in May.

Cook said parents have approached the Newport Beach and Costa Mesa

city councils about the exclusion.