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The city’s pool monitors are up in arms after three lifeguards and two lifeguard supervisors who failed a recertification swim test over the summer were fired by the Parks Department. The same day that several of the lifeguards took and failed the exam, assistant lifeguard coordinator Marty Kravitz also failed his exam, two lifeguards who saw Kravitz take the swim exam said.
But Kravitz, unlike the five other lifeguards, has not been fired, the lifeguards say. Kravitz swam 440 yards in 10 minutes and 30 seconds, the two lifeguards who witnessed his exam said, far eclipsing the needed time of 7 minutes and 45 seconds.
“They passed him they did not pass us and that's basically it,” said Robert Guzman, a lifeguard of more than 30 years who was terminated in November after failing the exam. Guzman said he was not given the opportunity to try the exam again and would “gladly” retake it.
Guzman officially received notice of his termination in a letter Oct. 31 telling him he had been terminated effective Nov. 1.
“This action is being taken due to failure to maintain a Deep-Water certification which is a requirement for a year-round Chief Lifeguard/Lifeguard assignment,” said the letter from Aretha Singh, an administrative manager at the Department of Parks and Recreation.
The other lifeguard who witnessed Kravitz fail his exam claimed that he got a pass from the Parks Department because Kravitz in leadership at Local 508 - the lifeguard supervisors’ union – and is a close confidant of the union’s former longtime president Peter Stein. Stein ran local 508 for more than 40 years before his abrupt retirement in January two months before the judicial panel of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees found that he and two of his deputies – Javier Rodriguez and Neil Veloz - violated the union’s constitution.
Rodriguez, Veloz and Kravitz now run Local 508, and under their leadership, rank and file lifeguards who opposed Stein told The Chief over the summer that they were facing retaliation in the form of excessive citations and withheld promotions. The second lifeguard who witnessed Kravitz fail his exam said the firings this fall were a further means of the union leaders increasing their control and ousting lifeguards who oppose union leadership.
"That's like having Peter there,” the lifeguard, who asked to remain anonymous, said of the trio's leadership. The lifeguard said that the Parks Department was applying its rules “selectively.”
A spokesperson for the Parks Department did not provide The Chief with a statement in response to lifeguard’s allegations but said that year-round lifeguards are given multiple opportunities to pass the deep-water examination and that those who were terminated can reapply for the position.
Kravitz could not be reached for comment. Kravitz will make more than $200,000 this year, according to city payrolls.
Edwin Agramonte, a year-round lifeguard for more than three decades, said that it was the first time in his memory that anyone had been fired for failing a deep-water exam.
"I've been here 35 years and nobody has ever been fired,” said Agramonte, who said he passed the swim test. “Everybody [who got fired] failed. But the people who failed got better times than Marty Kravitz."
He too blamed the Parks Department for “protecting” Kravitz and said he should be held to the same standards that all lifeguards are.
“They just started enforcing the rules,” Guzman said. “They normally pass us all the time."
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JanetF
Thanks for keeping up on the continual mismanagement of the NYC Lifeguard Corp. The Parks Department's Personnel Director, Aretha Singh is following whose orders sending termination letters? Whose making the decisions? It seems the Parks Management is working lock and step with the lifeguard Coordinators who hold the union positions. It's easier for them to bend the knee to Stein's soldiers that are still in power (Marty Kravitz Javier Rodriguez and Neil Veloz) instead of truly managing . Unfortunately the public and the lifeguards are not served when the decisions being made are not based on public safety . The Lifeguard state and American Red Cross standards for pool lifeguards is an untimed test. Ever since lifeguards stood up about the union corruption and testified in the AFSCME trials against the DC37 Local 461 and then Local 508 there is rampant retaliation . People were put in union positions without proper elections and it continues . Lifeguards still don't have a seat at the union table. Some of those lifeguards that stood up against the cronyism including Edwin Agramonte are the ones being targeted by the corrupt lifeguard managers .
When I filed an unfair labor practice 4 years ago as a seasonal Chief Ocean Lifeguard 2 of my remedies were ignored: American Red Cross testing which right now is a 200 yard pool test : 150 yard untimed test, 2 minute treading water with hands tucked under the arms then a 50 yard swim. Along with a rescue scenario that seems like a fair pool assessment. For open water lifeguards I recommended the United States Lifesaving Associations's ocean swim test of 500 meters with rescues in the open water. For the ocean swimming long distance is sometimes necessary. In NYC there doesn't seem to be anyone advocating for the public and the lifeguards. When Parks Commissioner Rodriques-Rosa was Deputy Commissioner there was some positive movement however it seems stymied. Unfortunately, the corruption is systemic and it seems that despite hiring a Chief of Special Programs and 2 Deputy Chiefs above The Lifeguard Coordinators the vindictiveness and targeting of certain employees continues as well as giving out lifeguard supervisory positions and all year round positions willy nilly. Ocean Training and rotations from chair to rescue board to ready alert are critical yet that was overlooked this summer. Our ocean beaches were mismanaged this past summer worse than any other year with excessive chairs put up between one set of rock jetties while closing the next bay resulting in the public rescuing drowning people on the closed bays while the lifeguards had no back up and got fewer breaks from duty on the open bays . I do hope that the standard is applied equally to all lifeguards and lifeguard supervisors. Let's have authentic ocean lifeguards run Rockaway. The public and the lifeguards deserve it.
Wednesday, December 10, 2025 Report this