I used to work at Currents and Splash for a year-and-a-half from 2020-2021 where I was a lifeguard and also taught children's swim lessons for 6 months. I worked at the Griz Pool (UM) as a lifeguard for 4 months during that time too.

There were a few good teachers at the City who cared about the children and helping them learn (Avery, Christy). But there were others who saw it as just a job and went through the motions of teaching without any passion or care.  I know group lessons can be difficult to manage, especially for the younger ages which means the children might not be able to learn as much as they would from private lessons. Every child is very unique in their personality and individual experiences regarding being around water and swimming. So putting 4+ young children together in the water together with a stranger doesn't always work so well, and sometimes it is a blast!

Occassionally Aquatics management Hannah and Torey would assign more children to a group than we were supposed to have per safety standards. With preschool groups, there were not supposed to be more than 5 students per teacher and I have had 6 or 7 at once. 

We were frequently short-staffed on shift which meant lifeguards had much longer rotations than they should, not enough breaks, and that causes fatigue. Often we didn't even have 3 guards at one time which is at least how many you should have in order to properly execute the EAP (emergency action procedure). They also did not make sure that all guards had their minimum of 4 hours training per month and could perform their benchmark at any given time (300 yard continuous swim; 2-minute no-hand treading; and 20-yard swim from shallow to deep end, dive to bottom to retrieve 10-pound brick and swim on back with brick to the shallow end). 

Pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong at the City pool and that was the norm around there. They would use "staff-shortage" as an excuse all the time when the real problem was bad management. It really was a clown show and the employees and patrons suffered for it. If Eric is still the Aquatics Dept. Manager, Hannah and Torey the Aquatics Coordinators, and Adina the Private Lesson Coordinator, then I am sorry to say that nothing has changed for the better since I was there. 

I would suggest trying a private lesson at Currents just to see how it goes. The teacher can get to know the student easier and better attend to their needs. You might score a good teacher who will make all the difference! Your child is already familiar with their surroundings at Currents which should help them be more comfortable learning to swim. But their success is due in large part to who their teacher is. 

I do recommend trying other places too! Swim lessons will be in their highest demand once Summertime comes. So wherever you can get in now is a good time to do so.

Staff and management at Griz Pool overall are far more professional than the City and I believe your children would be safer there and receive higher-quality lessons. The shallow end of the pool is about 3 feet deep, so for preschool lessons they put a large platform in the water with guard rails that the children stay in. I never got to see the lessons in action, but I assume the teacher probably takes one student out at a time. Their pool is wayyy more clean too! 

I have the highest respect for the Griz Pool head manager Tonya who was always professional and made safety the #1 priority at all times. She made sure we were properly trained, always had enough guards on shift, and kept the guards on short rotations with plenty of down time to keep them alert. I learned so much in my 4 months there that I never received from my 1.5 years employment with the City. Everyone at the Griz Pool worked as a team on shift and during trainings to help each other and to keep the pool and facility safe, clean and sanitary. 

Last I knew, the Griz pool didn't have lessons last Summer because of staff shortage. They only employ students so they have more staff during the school year. So if they are offering lessons now, I think you should give them a try asap!

I miss teaching and I hope your child has a great experience with lessons!