Tucson swim school shuts down, leaving kids without classes and parents without refunds

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Tucson parents said they paid for lessons for their kids at a popular swim school, but never got them.

Now, Sunshine Swim School seems to have shut down without any notice.

Some parents said they paid close to $200 for lessons. Some kids had a lesson or two, while others had none.

“For me as a mom, I want to make sure he is safe and has a good experience to be confident near the water,” said Brittany Reyes.

Reyes said she was a student at Sunshine Swim School around three decades ago.

“So naturally, I wanted my kid to go and it’s so sweet and nostalgic,” she said.

But instead, a nightmare for her and several parents including Jamie McKibben.

“It was May to June, two classes a week for 30 minutes a class,” McKibben said.

The moms said the first couple classes went great. But the following week, the classes started to sink.

“That Thursday morning, we got a call that said no classes because the pool pump hadn’t been working through the night,” McKibben said. “We do not hear from them again until June 9. No swim lessons. They did not even contact us this past Tuesday. We are trying to call them. They are not picking up.”

The swim school then sent the parents an email.

“We do not have strong definitive answers just yet. Aside from the mechanical issues, we have also been battling a real estate issue with our location,” the email read.

Since then, the Sunshine Swim School website, social media pages and phone number have all been deleted or disconnected.

Attempts to track down Garrett Armstead, the owner of Sunshine Swim School according to the Better Business Bureau, were unsuccessful.

KOLD checked for him at several addresses listed under his name, but he was nowhere to be found. Phone numbers associated with his name were all disconnected.

There was no sign of Armstead at the school that day.

Conner Vu, who identified himself as the new owner of the property, said he bought it from the owner in a quick sale for less than $200,000.

“I am going to fix it, move in over the next couple of months,” Vu said.

That means the swim school is no more.

We are still trying to find Armstead to get some answers for those parents.

The swim school’s app was still working as of Tuesday. Parents could still sign their kids up and pay for a swim school that does not exist anymore.

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