The suburban Philadelphia swim club accused of discrimination last summer after revoking the memberships of mostly black and Hispanic children is headed for bankruptcy, the Philadelphia Daily News reported Saturday.
Valley Swim Club president John Duesler sent an e-mail to club “friends and families” Friday saying the board of directors had voted to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy this week.
Duesler noted that many would blame the bankruptcy on legal proceedings and negative media exposure, the newspaper said. But, he said, “the truth is that the club has struggled to stay out of the red for at least the last decade” and owes more than $100,000 in operational expenses and legal fees, the newspaper reported.
Members “are all tired and beaten down and just sickened by how our club has been improperly portrayed,” he said, according to the Daily News. “After speaking to many members, my sense is that mostly everyone wants to move on.”
The Creative Steps day camp had arranged for its kids to swim at the Huntingdon Valley club each Monday during the summer. But during the first visit in June by 56 children — 46 black and 10 Hispanic — two kids reported hearing racist comments, and the day camp’s payment was later refunded, according to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
The commission said in a decision in September that it had found probable cause to conclude that the campers were asked not to return because of the “racial animus” expressed by one member and “racially coded comments” by other members.
