Foss Swim School - Elmwood Park

Apr 4th, 2024

I am truly sad and disappointed in our Foss experience at Elmwood Park. When we started at Foss, the quality of instruction and kid-friendly environment made it worth the steep price. Our son loved his lessons. However, several major factors have caused us to pull our son out mid session. This year, Foss stopped offering any make up sessions. To us, this was unreasonable as the current session is 13 weeks long and the price is $30 for a half hour. Instead, Foss offers family swim as a substitute for a make-up lesson, which books out months in advance. Other swim schools offer tokens for make up sessions as inevitably, very few families are available for 13 weeks straight. We also experienced a major lack of communication with management. Nobody answers the phone. We missed a session once and when we arrived the following week, the building was closed. There was nothing on the website or any form of communication to inform us of this closure. When I called and asked why the building was closed I was told that there had been a note on the door the previous week (the week we missed.) Most unfortunately, the quality of swim instructors at Foss varies widely. Although our three teachers before this session were great, our most recent teacher wasnt in the pool when class started, had 4 year old kids sitting on the step for long periods of time, and put the kids in time out if they moved to the other end of their lane for their turn. Of course the top priority is safety, but she never showed the children what she expected of them. Im still not sure how they were expected to get to the other side of the lane for their turn. I had to stick up for my son when the teacher put him in time out for moving down the lane. During the first class with her, my son only swam for 10 minutes total, as the kids sat on the step for the first 10 minutes, played games for 5 minutes and were sent out of the pool early. This is not acceptable when classes cost about $1 per minute. When I spoke with the manager about my concern, another mom was doing the same thing about the same teacher. Instead of listening to me, the manager said shed call or email me the next day, but I never heard from her until I followed up a few days later. If I were the manager, I would be interested in knowing why families were ending their sessions. Overall, this lack of communication, and poor teacher experience is no longer worth the high cost (and parking nightmare.) We were hoping to keep our son (and eventually enroll our daughter) at Foss as there are few swim environments close to us that are as kid friendly. We know a lot of families at Foss who have had great experiences, but unfortunately, it was not for us.
Apr 4th, 2024

Dont leave anything important or personal inside any bags in this location because people are thieves. Someone went inside of my daughters book bag and stole my car key. I will never come back.
Feb 29th, 2024

STAFF IS FRIENDLY. I have many family and friends who I've recommended to this location. The teachers truly care for each student and strive to help EACH STUDENT become independent/safe swimmers. If you want teachers who have a passion for swimming this is the place. Your kids confidence will grow. They teach all ages. They are professional and care about communication. They accept feedback and Listen to be the best. Safety is number one.
Jan 17th, 2024

I dont think they had a consistent instructor and there was not much progress for us this period., we have been coming for a while . There were more kids in her group and sometimes only one instructor, which tells why she wasnt able to get more support from her instructor, I wasnt t very happy with this swim period , I really wish she could have gotten the support she needed., we missed 3 classes and you dont do make up classes anymore and signing up for family swim is a hit miss sometimes , although Im not sure if thats helpful for her since there is no teacher at the family swim to help her work on her skills.
Jan 8th, 2024