Philadelphia ? The head of a private suburban Philadelphia swim club on Friday defended its cancellation of the memberships of dozens of minority children, saying safety, not racism, was the reason.

“We deeply regret this whole situation,” John Duesler, president of the board of directors of The Valley Club, told reporters Friday afternoon at the entrance to the club in the leafy suburb of Huntingdon Valley.

The Creative Steps camp had arranged for 65 mostly black and Hispanic children to swim each Monday afternoon at the club this summer. But director Alethea Wright said that shortly after they arrived for their first visit, some children reported hearing racial comments, and the camp’s $1,950 was refunded a few days later.

Duesler said the number of children in the shallow section of the pool, many of them unable to swim, convinced officials that there was a problem. “It was definitely an unsafe situation,” he said.