Northside ISD ends grownup swim program amid discrimination claims

SAN ANTONIO — Northside Independent School District has abruptly ended its adult-based masters swimming program, citing a shift in focus to different swim applications for college kids in grades Okay-12. However, some members of the Alamo Area Aquatics Masters program, which operated underneath the United States Masters Swimming (USMS) group on the Northside Swim Center, imagine the choice was influenced by different components.

Rita Kellogg, a member of the masters program for six years, expressed considerations after USMS launched a coverage requiring athletes to simply accept the potential of competing with transgender athletes. Kellogg addressed the Northside ISD board on August 26, proposing two options: enable participation with out USMS affiliation or take away the NISD Aquatics’ official designation as a USMS crew.

Kellogg stated, “They state that this is part of our requirements to be able to swim on our local NISD aquatics master swim team. That didn’t sit well with me and a handful of others.”

The day after the assembly, the district introduced the everlasting finish of the USMS crew at Northside, main Kellogg to assert discrimination. “It keeps me motivated and keeps me going, and to have all of that pulled away from us just because we spoke up about being forced to comply with, you know, nonprofits ideologies, it’s not right, and that’s retaliation,” she stated.

In response, Northside ISD launched an announcement saying, “Northside ISD has made the decision to end our adult-based masters swimming program in order to focus our support on our students in grades K-12. The programs we provide for students in NISD will be our priority. We are happy to support our adult swimmers through the open public/lap swimming sessions.”

Kellogg hopes the district will rethink its choice and that the continuing lawsuit between the state and USMS will favor swimmers like her.